He needed this. He really, really did. After so many days—no, that’s not right… so many weeks—of work in a row, Rioh truly needed to just hangout with someone close to him; someone that understands him; someone who understands what he’s going through; someone that’s familiar and forever locked in his heart; and it goes without saying that one Han Taejoo checks off all of those boxes for him. Being in his presence is exactly like a breath of fresh air in his lungs, one that completely rids of the constant gray cloud that’s hovering over him only to replace it with a million beams of bright sunshine… ones that only shine brighter when the older of them smiles. The warmth that he radiates wraps the younger of them up in its grasp and holds him tight; an effort to remind him that things aren’t so bad and that better, freer days lie ahead. Even without saying anything, Taejoo’s able to clear up his headspace, and slowly, Rioh’s getting attached to how it makes him feel—and he has no idea if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
“I’m glad that I’m not sounding like a whiney little brat… if I were to open up about any of this to my brothers, that’s the first thing that they’d call me.” He sighed, shaking his head softly. “It’s a lot, you know? I don’t think they realize that it’s not as flashy as it seems on TV. It’s a lot of work—and exhausting work, at that. No one who’s never trained or debuted gets it…” The smaller of them breathes, then glances over to the taller. “That’s why I’m glad I have you.” He nudges his cohort to emphasize playfulness, then grins wide. “And you think I’m good at adapting? That’s a little funny, not gonna lie. I feel like I’m the worst with change…” He’s supposedly learning a lot about himself today as he knows that Taejoo would never lie to him about things like this.
Though, when the mention of losing contact is brought up, Rioh feels his heart shake, but does his absolute best to ignore it. “I—I don’t want us to lose contact either. I’ve always thought of you as like, someone really special to me. You were—and still are—the coolest person I know!”
Wearing his heart on his sleeve is a trait he’s always had, and it’s one that sometimes causes a lot more trouble than intended, but he hopes that it’s acting as a bad thing in this moment.
“Hey! We’ll have a little bit of overlap in the U.S.! We’re gonna be there from around the 1st to the 16th, so at the beginning of your trip and the end of mine, we can maybe meet up? I think we’ll mostly be in Los Angeles from the 12th through the 16th, but I’d have to double check…” The possibilities could be endless, but he doesn’t want to get his hopes up too high.
“Let’s totally practice some dancing though! We can head back to Gold Star and use a practice room? We’d have to go back to Gangnam, but maybe the trip’ll be fun? What do you think?” He near about bounces where he stands; the excitement made very obvious. “It’ll be fun! I’ll feel like I’m actually getting to teach or help you for once! That, like, has never happened with us!”
Taejoo understood where Rioh was coming from. He supposed if he wasn’t a trainee he wouldn’t get it. That complaining about busy schedules and being so popular would sound spoiled to him. He’s never experienced the second part but he knows how jam-packed Rioh’s schedule has to be, how many hours the younger has to be working in order to be there at every single schedule prepared to perform.
“Your hard work shows.” Taejoo said gently. “But if you ever need to complain I’ll listen to you. No judgement included.” He didn’t mind letting Rioh unload his feelings a little. He’d been something of a confidante in their younger days as well. Though, that had been largely about subjects that were a bit lighter in nature. Listening to Rioh’s worries just felt natural to him. He smiled as Rioh nudged him, his face warming a little bit at the news that Rioh was glad he had Taejoo.
He looked at his feet. “Change isn’t easy for anyone. But if you weren’t good at adapting you wouldn’t be here right now, y’know?” Taejoo was afraid that his own adjustment period was going to be much more difficult. He’d been a trainee for so long he wasn’t sure he’d know what to do when he officially became an idol. He didn’t know what sort of reception they’d get either. Part of him was afraid to know. Gold Star had already proved they didn’t mind ripping a\n underperforming group apart and starting from scratch.
Taejoo’s smile came back at the mention of being the coolest person that Rioh knew. “Cool?” He laughed. “I don’t feel like I’m very cool.” He felt like a loser these days. He’d been training for 6 years and had nothing to really show for that time except the promise of a debut behind super popular group that was also a boy group. He felt like that was a recipe for Quicksilver to get over-shadowed.
“I’d like to meet up if you can find the time.” Taejoo wasn’t entirely sure how much time Rioh would have let alone himself. But being in a foreign country with at least one friendly face was a nice thought. Not that his groupmates weren’t friendly but he didn’t know where he stood with them really.
Rioh’s excitement about helping him was nearly contagious. The nervous feeling in Taejoo’s chest loosened a bit. If nothing else Rioh wouldn’t judge him. Taejoo often felt a bit nervous to ask for help from his groupmates. He felt like he was notably behind the other three, in reality he wasn’t probably that far behind but it felt like he was. “I definitely would be grateful for your help.”
snowghoul
kianamaiart
gummygunk
tangentwithtanner
areudirty
germansingergirl
jbbartram-illu
titsay
blakekathryn