#convex;thread

[kibumrk]

pretty in pink ;

@seungcheolrk

as much as kibum is happy to have brightly colored hair again, he’ll be the first to admit that being stuck in a salon chair for hours and hours and hours is not very much fun, especially for him and his jittery tendencies. he relishes in the chance to stretch his legs now that he’s finally done in the salon chair, and he putters about the kitchen, unloading the dishwasher as he hums to himself, listening to the others move about in the rest of the dorm. 

he senses someone else in the small kitchen, and he turns his head to see seungcheol standing there. kibum smiles at him, tucking a mug into the cabinet where it belongs. “weird to have new hair colors, isn’t it?” he asks. “the curly look suits you. what do you think of mine? it took a lot of work to get it looking this good, you know,” he says, making a motion as if doing a hair flip over his shoulder, despite his hair not being nearly long enough for that kind of thing. 

[kibumrk]

falling asleep again ;

@rkxroyal

it’s no secret among convex members that kibum has trouble sleeping. he can often be found sitting up in bed, reading on his phone, or out on the couch practicing the video games he’s so notoriously horrible at ( or, more likely, watching jihoon play better than kibum can ever hope to ). he can almost always be found staying late at sphere to practice whenever they’re not promoting, because he knows it’s unlikely he’ll be able to go to sleep at a reasonable time anyway, so why waste that time when he could spend it being productive? 

what convex members see less often is the moments when kibum’s insomnia catches up with him. he usually manages to control it enough that he just slips into the bedroom and goes to bed early, and if anyone notices and comments on it he’ll shrug and just say he was tired. his sleeping habits have never been healthy, by any means, but he knows how to live with them, and he doesn’t want anyone else worrying or asking after him when he’s one of the oldest and a leader -- he should be worrying about the others, not the other way around. 

maybe it’s subconscious, since he and woohyun are the only ones in the dorm this saturday evening -- or maybe they’re not, but whoever else is here isn’t in the living room, so they at least have the illusion of privacy, which is about the closest kibum finds he can find when sharing a dorm with eleven other boys. still, he isn’t really paying attention to the movie playing on the tv, and that’s made abundantly clear when his head falls on woohyun’s shoulder -- he’s been asleep for a few minutes at that point, his dreams following the characters from the movie whose names he can’t remember. 

[kibumrk]

the long road ;

@rkxroyal

“CONVEX!” the mc shouts, and as confetti cannons blow and their fans scream their joy, kibum blinks, standing with his mouth open as he looks out at the signs with his name, with their group’s name waving through the air. this is it -- their first win. 

tears are on his face before he entirely realizes what’s happening, and hands are on him -- his members’, he realizes belatedly, allowing them to touch him and move him inwards as yixing accepts the trophy. the twelve of them are all standing fairly close together now, and he can feel points of contact with the other members at various places, though he doesn’t know who’s touching him and who isn’t -- he doesn’t even know who he’s standing between right now. 

all at once, it hits him. this is their first win. this is something he’s been working towards for years. as soon as the thoughts come into his mind, kibum’s hand comes up to cover his mouth, and he nearly falls over from the force of the tidal wave of emotions that flows over him. he places his hand on the shoulder of the one to his left, and immediately realizes that it’s woohyun when he feels the shoulder shaking with tears as well. without thinking, kibum moves closer and wraps his arms around woohyun in a hug, holding him tightly as both of them cry while yixing speaks. kibum makes a small mental note to watch video of this later so he can hear yixing’s speech, because he isn’t processing any of it right now. 

[kibumrk]

move out of the way ;

@rkxroyal

their dorm is rather small for thirteen people sharing a space. after over a year in the dorm together, though, they’ve managed to work out a system that works, even with their hectic schedule. it does involve the regular sharing of the two disappointingly small bathrooms during mornings and evenings, though, and as roommates kibum and woohyun are often forced to share their short time. 

kibum has had to significantly shorten his daily skincare routine, and he has a little chart folded in one of the cabinets that tells him which products to use on which day, because he unfortunately never has time for all of them anymore. he’s managed to find a system that works, though only after much trial and error over the last year. but part of the routine is shaving, because he does actually need to do that every day, because if he goes a morning without doing it he’ll end up with random hairs popping up by the afternoon of the second day. 

“ah, shit,” he curses, staring into the little jar of shaving cream he uses. “i’m out of shaving cream. i’m gonna have to use yours, hyung~” he singsongs, reaching obnoxiously into woohyun’s space ( not that there was much of it to begin with in this tiny bathroom ) to snatch the bottle out of his hand. kibum moves in a way that it presses him against woohyun’s side, shoving the elder playfully yet still gently into the wall. “excuse me, i need this, hyung~” he continues playing, using the term ‘hyung’ despite rarely ever using it with the elder. 

[kibumrk]

a bump in the road ;

@rkjinkis

[ tw: injury ]

the fall was surprising. kibum knows he’s been injured while dancing before, but nothing serious has happened since he was much younger, since he was always dancing outside with luminosity. it’s been a very long time, but he has sprained an ankle before, and as soon as he stands from his fall and goes to continue dancing, he’s fairly certain that’s what he’s done now. 

he doesn’t let himself think about what this means for the rest of convex promotions, all of the rest of his focus going into finishing the last verse of the song and trying to avoid putting weight on his right foot whenever possible. his expression is more of a strained grimace than a smile, he’s sure, and he can’t quite spare enough breath to contribute to the singing of the chorus, but he mouths the words automatically, keeping all his focus on not falling again. 

kibum is one of the members standing in the final pose, and as soon as the last note fades out, he leans forward onto the person kneeling directly in front of him, who happens to be jinki. “sorry,” he croaks, but he finds that putting some of his weight on another person helps his foot pain, and he’s hesitant to let go. “i think i hurt my ankle in that fall,” he adds as an explanation, his voice still quiet and strained. 

[kibumrk]

home cooked meal ;

@seungcheolrk

the departure of a member has been hard on all of them, though kibum knows he feels it in a different way than the others -- he knows both sides of the relationship that got rome kicked out, after all. kibum’s known about mijoo and rome’s relationship for a long time now -- that kind of conversation came with being close friends with mijoo. likewise, she was one of the few people who knew about his and rachel’s relationship, and one of the only ones who knows the details of how it fell apart. 

since rome’s departure a few weeks ago, he’s spent a lot of time worrying about people -- rome, mijoo, and the rest of convex, namely, but especially the remaining members of the rap unit. 

rome was arguably the member he was least close to in the rap unit, but kibum has a connection with every remaining member: yien was in royal with him, sehun was on bedrest with him, and seungcheol is just....seungcheol. he’s got a quality that keeps kibum focused on him, that makes kibum worry. he’s one of the kindest, sweetest people kibum knows, and his struggles with anxiety drive kibum to reassure and comfort him whenever he can. this time, of course, is no different, especially not now that seungcheol’s taken up the role of rap unit leader. 

“hey, cheollie,” kibum says, gesturing for seungcheol to come over as he passes by the kitchen. he continues working on peeling potatoes for dinner tonight -- sphere doesn’t serve dinner on weekends, and kibum thinks it’s easier to get a balanced diet through home-cooked meals anyway. “wanna help? if you peel the potatoes, i can get started on the stew,” he says, nodding towards the three other potatoes on the counter, waiting to be washed and peeled. “i’m trying to make enough to have leftovers for the week, in case anyone comes home late or needs a midnight snack. just don’t forget to wash your hands,” he reminds the other, setting the half-peeled potato down and moving to get started on chopping carrots. 

there’s a comfortable silence between them as they each settle into their new tasks, and kibum glances over to seungcheol as he finishes the first carrot and drops it into a waiting bowl. “so, rap unit leader,” he smiles, nudging the other gently and playfully in the side. “how are you holding up?”