the barbecue gives kibum a chance to see a lot of people training and debut prep has kept him from for months, and he knows that with his limited time at the party, he needs to start making his rounds quickly if he wants to see everyone and try to catch up, make sure that all of his friends ( and all of their friends ) have seen his pre-debut teaser. logically, he knows he can’t spend the whole party with just one or two people, or he’ll never get to see everyone he wants to.
but he can’t help himself from going to see dongmin right away, even though he knows the teenager will probably latch onto him and not let go until sphere forces kibum to leave. that’s fine with him – he’ll just drag dongmin along to say hello to everyone he wants to.
he doesn’t actually see dongmin at first, and while he waits he chats with sungho, a kt trainee who he knows has given taemin quite a bit of trouble, but he and kibum have always gotten along strangely well. it’s a strange sort of camaraderie, their dry senses of humor lining up well and leading to fun conversations, even if they do seem a bit dark sometimes.
kibum spots dongmin after he finishes his first plate of food, and he excuses himself from sungho to make his way across the crowded lawn and sneak up behind the teen. as he approaches from behind dongmin, he taps the other’s left shoulder as kibum continues to move toward his right, and he waits for dongmin to fall for the trick and turn around the wrong way. even as he just stands there near him, there’s a wide grin already on kibum’s lips, and he finds he can’t wait for dongmin to see him just so they can actually hug for the first time in three months.
this barbecue had so many amazingly cool things about it. that had him vibrating with energy from the moment he had heard it was happening. a vast difference form last year when he had been a new trainee still and they had been put through the ringer. yes, dongmin liked this one much better. he knows everyone is going to be there from all over the companies and there are so many people he was looking forward to seeing. his cousin for one, taemin and rachel who he see’s back at home ( separate homes, depending on if he stays over with taemin or not ), jinyoung for sure, and to top it off. kibum.
he hasn’t seen the older male in over a month, back when he had been taken to the doctor. the month of june was a sour note for the teen. but he was over it. his leg was fine, his instructors were content with his diet. he hadn’t been skipping breaks and he doesn’t stay until a godless time in the night like he had been. and his song is done. things are getting better for him. he was going to have a nice fun time, snacking and telling the CEO’S some puns and then royal jdj was going to make their ‘debut’ AND now he was going to get to see his most favorite hyung in the whole world.
he had been loitering around a table, cookie in hand, looking for someone else to bother. he just parted ways with jihoon hyung and jaehyun hyung, the two of them ready as well for the karaoke to start so they could wow everyone. when he felt the tap on his shoulder, turning almost instantly in the direction it came from and frowning when he didn’t see anyone for a solid moment. that was until he turned a little more. his eyes widened, a smile pulling across his lips almost instantly. “hyung!” he cheered, everything disregarded as the teen all but pounced on the older male, arms wrapping in a tight hug without even pausing.
