all jung wooyoung ever wanted was to go about life like he always did, and that worked for him; until the top-tier celebrity choi san was in the picture, that is.
but there was a catch; wooyoung was his anti-fan.
start: august 9, 2023
end: septembe...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"ice cream really does make everything better." jongho affirmed while licking on his mint choc chip cone ice cream, seated between wooyoung and hongjoong on a bench outside their studio.
"i would agree, but i can't really say the same about the flavor you chose." hongjoong responded, staring down at the mint choc chip with distasteful eyes. he held a cone of chocolate ice cream in his own hand, being a simpleton when it came to ice cream flavors. sometimes, simple is best.
clearly not in this case, in wooyoung's opinion. personally, the butterscotch ice cream he had chosen was the best flavor of the three, but he wasn't petty enough to argue on that. considering their extended work hours for the day, the trio had decided to spend their free time by relieving their stress. and what better way to relieve stress than have some ice cream while taking in the evening air?
"it's ridiculous that i'm at the studio up until 10pm these days. i can't even have some alone time and i've just been ordering take out for weeks now 'cause i don't have time to cook for myself. i think i'll need to use up my vacation days if this keeps going on." jongho complained.
hongjoong, too, was equally as exhausted; you could see it on his face. but for someone like wooyoung that did practically nothing back at home, his work proved as a getaway for him. however, he too, had begun to long for his alone time. he'd been spending most of his time at his workplace, mostly because of the trainees and their inability to cooperate. he didn't really have the right to complain, though; he knew what he was signing up for when he had chosen this profession.
contrary to what most people would assume considering wooyoung's delinquent past, wooyoung most definitely did not get into dancing as a method of escape; because he didn't have anything to escape from. it just made him stop thinking about everything around him, regardless of whether they were good or bad thoughts.
nor did he get into dancing by joining "underground dance battles". that was what hongjoong had assumed when he first met wooyoung at the studio. instead, wooyoung randomly decided to enter a silly dance competition at school when he was around 14. what once was a hobby to him, grew into his passion.
wooyoung liked dancing. he couldn't picture himself doing anything else. it kept his physique in check and it usually wasn't strenuous. however, he did wish his job was a bit easier on his wellbeing at times.
plus, wooyoung had grown a soft spot for his trainees, even though he'd never admit to something like that.
"just keep pushing, my man." hongjoong reassured. "we'll just have to deal with them for another 2 weeks until their singing lessons start again. our sessions with them will be reduced to two hours and you'll have most of the day to yourself then."
jongho exhaled and backed down, knowing hongjoong had a point. "you're right, i guess. i'll just have to pull through and girlboss my way to the end."
these were usually the most productive days of wooyoung's year. otherwise, he'd have shorter work hours and he'd be back at home, doing what he usually did. moping around, hanging out with yeosang for the most part, watching so many horror movies that he'd grown immune to jumpscares and whatnot.
hongjoong chuckled, before popping up with a question. "but what then? what do you do when you have all that free time in your hands?" he asked. "i get all overwhelmed when i'm alone with nothing to do all the time. it's suffocating and it makes me feel unproductive."
"hmm." jongho pondered. "but isn't that the point? it's like a reward for all the hard work you put in. you know, like, hey, you've been working your ass off for 4 weeks straight, so here's 4 weeks of doing absolutely nothing as a reward. so you can get your shit together and have fun, or whatever. it could be suffocating or relieving. it really depends on how you put your time to use."
"woah," wooyoung exclaimed. "i didn't know you were capable of saying smart things, too."
hongjoong laughed even harder at that, and jongho rolled his eyes. "oh, shut up." he grumbled, slapping wooyoung on the back of his head.
"you're right, i guess." hongjoong continued after calming down from his fits of laughter. "i'm not good at making plans and i cancel them according to my convenience. like, if i'm watching a show i really like, i'll probably cancel plans i made so i can continue watching it, you know? i need to stop doing that."
"i can never cancel plans because of my fear of missing out." jongho said, crushing up his ice cream wrapper and tossing it in the bin. "go out with your friends and family and have some fun, bro. we don't have a lot of time with the people we love, anyway."
hongjoong pursed his lips and nodded in agreement. "point made. how about we bring our therapy session to an end here? the boys are probably waiting for us upstairs."
and with that, the three of them stood up, wooyoung dusting his back, and they made their way back to the studio.
upon their entrance, all of the seven idol trainees in the room got off the grounds lazily, despite being given a lengthy break. "break's over!" hongjoong called out as if it wasn't obvious enough. "get back into your places, boys, and do things right this time if you wanna be back in your dormitory soon."
"hey, i need to use the washroom. start without me, i'll join in soon." wooyoung excused himself from the rest and hongjoong nodded in response before turning to the young boys and arranging them into their respective positions.
wooyoung washed his face with lukewarm water before holding the edges of the sink.
damn, did he want to go home.
he could hear hongjoong's loud voice over the music outside and he just wished he could stay inside the washroom for the next two hours. hours of practice had made his calves grow sore and the obnoxiously loud music made his temples ache. "you can do this," he mumbled under his breath, staring back at his own reflection in the mirror. what a painfully long day.
before he could give himself more words of affirmation, a startled looking jongho barged into the washroom.
"bro, someone's looking for you," jongho said slowly, pointing outside. his eyes were wide like saucers with an expression wooyoung struggled to read. "out there. outside."
"looking for me? who is it? yeosang?" wooyoung's forehead knitted, and jongho's jaw only slightly dropped in response.
"uhhhhh. the thing is..." he dragged, not taking his big eyes off of wooyoung. wooyoung blinked, staring back at the brunette boy before growing impatient and shaking his head. he moved past him, exiting the washroom; only to be met by the one face he didn't want to see.
amidst his frantic trainees and fellow choreographers stood choi san, dressed in a lousy disguise, in the centre of the room, staring right back at a perplexed wooyoung who's heart was racing.
