PRODUCE 101 | c.s + j.wy

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There had been three days since the recording.

Two groups of ten trainees each were spending their whole days in practice room, since they had to do a performance cover on air during the episode. This last week had been the toughest one until now. They were all tired as never in their lives, and the program was going to an end. There were only twenty people and three episodes left.

Last time, Wooyoung had ranked #10, which was good considering his beginning. He didn't know if it was thanks to the collaborations with San or because finally someone appreciated his work. In any of these cases, he felt proud of himself. He was that close to debuting. But he couldn't underestimate anything: the competition was almost over and he hoped to rank at least #8 this time, thanks to his new video with San, so that he could feel "safe" for the next episodes.

Anyway, this time he and the no-more-pink-head were apart and Wooyoung was facing again the difficulties to work with someone different from that guy. Plus, doing it with nine people was a nightmare. But, in general, the outcome was good.

They had to do a cover of Call me Baby by EXO. No idea about the song of the other group, and the same for the enemies. It was everything up to the broadcast.

"Woo, I guess here you have to take a bigger step or I can't reach my position. I've been trying my best but definitely I can't, sorry." Yeosang said while pointing out the part of the song he was referring to. Wooyoung nodded his head.

"Yeah, of course, no problem for me. Just remember that since it's my part I have to keep looking at the camera so you have to fix by yourselves."

Wooyoung was so happy when the production gave them a paper with the song choice and the roles set for them. He was the center. This means he was gaining a lot of popularity and screentime, which was definitely positive.

He walked to the speakers again to put the song from the beginning.

"Guys, just one more time marking the steps to clean the positions, ok?" and the boys all nodded.

Another thing that Wooyoung liked a lot was the funny concept of the song. Doing Kai's part was a high responsibility, he was one of the best dancers and most charismatic idols so far, but since the song wasn't a lot sexy or dramatic or either sad, he felt more confident. He could enjoy his time and smirking to the camera was a lot easier this way. Not to mention the fact that doing it in live broadcast also means the two groups were going to see the other's performance in real time. In other words, he wanted to deeply stare into San's eyes through the camera to make him weak. This was an unconscious intention, though.

But those past days apart from San except for dinner time (they used to have a fast lunch in the practice room), had been... strange? He caught his mind to think about the guy more often than usual. They couldn't chat a lot, too, because they were busy with practice and at night they were too tired to stay up after dinner. They basically fell dead in the bed.

Just to mention that: all the guys were allowed to have a phone in there, because it was needed for the music, to talk with the other trainees and to check some important communication from the staff. They were also allowed to talk with their families, too, once a week. But the wifi of the building had a blocked setup for social activities and other online researches. This, added to the inhibition to have a sim card, made all of them isolated as they were supposed to be for the program. They couldn't connect to anything except themselves, basically. So, they weren't able to check people's opinion here and there and the way the program was being shown to the audience.

Said so, it happened that Wooyoung and San started to chat more than usual after their meetings, sometimes up to late night when they were alive enough to do so. Wooyoung, during the practice with the new group, caught himself thinking many times about this would make San laugh, for sure or I'm pretty curious how he would do this step. So, yes, he was thinking of the other a lot, and this was causing a general bug in his system because it felt very unusual for that. Not that this didn't happen also with Yeonjun or other friends of his, but this time it was different.

He had never, never in his life appreciated things like physical contact and skinship kind of. But, when he was with San, he had this constant instinct of hugging him, brushing his hair or his face and pulling him closer. This didn't happen at the beginning, but when they stared to meet alone in the other's room to talk about the video, he found himself got closer and closer to San and never regret it. Neither San himself seemed interested in pulling him away.

What does that mean?

It wasn't that Wooyoung didn't want to accept his feelings, but that's exactly what it was.
Something about liking someone there, inside the competition, that may probably be a member of the group he could be debut in, felt wrong. There were a bunch of reasons which scared him to make a step, but he couldn't notice that the tension between the two was growing. And everytime he managed to find an excuse to run away, but he couldn't keep acting like this, of course.

Then, there was something more. He had clearly seen San doing things with Seonghwa, so it couldn't be that he had feelings for him. Of course, he was into someone else. This stopped Wooyoung even more. Not that he was sure about being returned in those feelings, but... If San acts like this and already have a boyfriend, what should I think? Maybe he's just a fuckboy and wants to lay with me? I mean, I'm sure he likes me but I guess we're nothing more than friends.

If not, why would he sleep with Seonghwa, then?

___ • ___

Meanwhile, in the next room, San's group was practicing Monster by EXO.

In this team, Hongjoong took the leadership. And he wasn't bad. He acted exactly as needed. San helped just in matter of performance and facials sometimes, but then respected his role and followed the guidance. For the choreography part, the team was supposed to work together in any way.

San, of course, had the center role. It was expected since he kept ranking the first place since the first episode. But this time no one seemed bothered by his presence: having done a lot of group practices let people get to know him. Well, he didn't have many more friends, but at least they waved in his presence and even laughed at his jokes. Then, there was Wooyoung.

The relationship with Wooyoung was very... tensed? At first, he needed to talk to Seonghwa about him to understand his behaviour better. Now, they got so close that he didn't need any help but was still confused about his feelings. For sure they were close, but how much close?

San, from his point, could clearly read his own feelings. The fact that his heart rate increased every time he just thought about the other, and got even worse at his sight, could mean only one thing. The constant willingness to stay by his side, between his arms and listen to his voice.

He was still the same concentrated, serious and caring trainee as usual, but the best he tried to bury in his mind the thought of Wooyoung, to keep the focus, the louder his image popped up again making his face to blush with no reason. He had planned to try to talk to the other after the episode, though. He didn't want this strange and tensed air to stay between them, and not knowing the other's feelings was torturing him.

"Ok guys, I think we're almost there. What about doing the last three shots: one marking the steps to get the positions, one with just dance and a final one with singing too. I want the last one to be as powerful as it's going to be on stage, ok? So catch your breath." Hongjoong said in a firm tone of voice, as every other guy nodded his head and took another sip of water. San was laying against the mirror and was, of course, riding his thoughts about his magical outdistance world made of unicorns and Jung Wooyoung.

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easy chapter because you definitely needed a break after the last one