hearing the older say they weren’t big on formalities made haneul feel odd, it was comfortable in a way since it meant he could address the older however he liked but at the same time it felt weird; haneul was korean after all, so it’d feel unnatural to drop them completely even if he understood the reasoning; he would feel odd not addressing the older as one or the other, “ j-jihae then, ” even if it felt weird it also felt rather honored to be on a first-name basis with the other.
haneul shifted his eyes bashfully at the mention of vive’s schedule, it was true they were busy he had said so himself but hearing it like that made it feel bigger than it initially had done, “ you could say that. ” if haneul thought about it, vive as a group had pretty big shoes to fill— if they were to follow into origin’s footsteps at all, it was understandable that gold star wanted to push them but at the same time, haneul wondered when he would be able to have a full night’s sleep again, “ it was fun to visit the us, the first time vive were in the us it was for the festival… in the desert but i don’t count that as visiting really. this time, me and kyubok went and looked around, we filmed something as well so we got to experience quite a bit. ”
“ no, i have not had a solo stage like this, i did for my trainee evaluations but never like this. it was rather intimidating. ” haneul laughs, rubbing the back of his neck with a bashful expression still on his face.
rock. that would indeed be an interesting genre to see in the scene, “ i don’t think there are many groups that have done a pop-rock song properly yet? if i’m not mistaken, it’d be cool to see one day,” it felt rather awkward for him to be this casual with the older but haneul was sure, with time he might just get used to it. haneul took a sip of his drink before looking back at jihan as they spoke.
“ eh? ” he blurted with wide eyes at the sudden mention of his own performance, haneul took both his hands laced the fingers behind his head and bit his lip as he tried to hold back his smile at the praise. haneul hadn’t expected to hear that from the older, “ thank you. ” it was genuine, everything about his reaction was genuine; “ it’s not awkward at all, i’m honored that you think so,” he nods but haneul was painfully aware about what many of their fans and the public thought, that him and kyubok were rigged into the group, a frustrating thing really but hearing jihan compliment him now, made him feel like that wasn’t the truth at all, “ it does mean a lot coming from you.”
Nodding encouragingly, Jihae smiled. “Sorry, I know it’s not really the standard here and stuff. But we’re probably going to see a lot of each other again going forward, so we might as well get comfortable, right?” Sometimes erasing these societal boundaries the way Jihae tried to rubbed people the wrong way and they got why, they did, so seeing Haneul react seemingly positively was a huge relief already.
The festival hadn’t really felt like visiting to Jihae either, truth be told. In part because they’d been too busy sulking about how tired they were and had mainly focused on their assigned activities and actual festival performances, in part because the time they’d had off they’d either napped or spent basking in the bliss of actually having a boyfriend now. Even though them missing out on what the festival could’ve offered was their own doing, it felt reassuring to hear Haneul felt similarly about it. “Where did you go?” they asked, trying not to let it show that the mention of Kyubok’s name still brought on a flood of guilt. Kyubok was fine, clearly, he’d probably moved on a long time before they’d broken up for real. He and Haneul’d had a great time exploring the US. There was literally no reason for Jihae to feel anything other than excitement for Haneul, actually, who they were talking to right now.
“I was always so scared of trainee evaluations,” they admitted with a sheepish chuckle. “Used to get suuuper nervous. And then we debuted and eventually started getting solo stages for performances and I felt silly looking back. But you’ve done it now! And all of the things you’ve learnt on stage you’ll be able to carry onward!” Jihae gently nudged Haneul’s elbow with their own. “You’re already so good, just wait until you really get a hang of it all.”
Jihae sure would love if Origin could go down a more rock-focused path but quite honestly, with how the trajectory of their releases was going none of that was very likely. “I think Charm, Alien and Mars have a few more rock-leaning songs, no? Honestly, if you adapted the instrumentalization I think Mars’ Valkyrie would actually make a great rock song!” Excited to get to slip in a mention of their favourite group, Jihae beamed. “And, well. Then there’s Lucid, that’s part of their entire thing. Maybe it’s more of a Dimensions thing, who knows…”
Honoured. The word sent an unreasonable shiver of dread down Jihae’s spine. They felt bad, Haneul was nothing if not being perfectly polite right now and their inferiority complex had nothing to do with him. Still, they had to swallow the urge to tell him that he was exaggerating. Who were they to decide that for him anyway? This wasn’t their place. And with how vicious they knew the public could be at times Jihae had no doubt Vive overall heard more about how rigged the final line-up was on the regular, more than they should ever have to. “Well, please know I’m not just saying it to be kind. You’re a great performer and I know I wasn’t the only one who enjoyed watching you on stage. I never looked at you and thought that you don’t belong in front of a crowd.”