the new choreography is a relief, because at least minho has something to do-- something to focus on. he takes the time to practice a little more, spending more hours at royal than he usually does in an effort to avoid having to ho back to the dorm and talk to someone. he doesn’t want to talk, he doesn’t want to do anything.
and he can’t land this fucking move.
the music cuts as his hand slams on the stop button, gritting his teeth as he rakes a hand through his hair. the chorus of their new song is thrumming through his head, and he knows how the dance is supposed to match with it but his timing is off, his movements are just a little bit off, everything is off.
he snatches his water bottle off the bench, and mindlessly, thoughtlessly, throws it across the room in a fit of anger. it smacks against the wall, loud and jarring, and he drops to the floor with a groan. his back hits the floor harshly, arms moving to lay over his head and eyes. the stinging behind his eyelids are too much, his head pounding is too much, everything is too much.
the door creaks. he swallows, throat tight, and calls out in a sharp tone. “someone’s ‘ere!”
“ de:code –– solo schedule … ┊ june schedule . the face shop photoshoot
jaehyun doesn’t think that he’s ugly. if anything, he’s aware that he’s the opposite of that. it’s kind of embarrassing to say it himself, but he’d heard a few times that he was well... a decent looking guy! or at least, above average! he’s not too sure what exactly it is about him that had interested them, but there was something about his well, face, that piqued the interest of the face shop. so much so that they’d asked him to be their ambassador. which of course, was amazing. it wasn’t something he could ever say no to. he was hardly a year into debut and here the face shop was, asking if he’d want to be their ambassador.
it’s only natural for him to have to take some promotional photos, and he spends the night before practicing a few poses in front of his mirror. ( baekhyun had spent some time laughing at him ).
they arrive at the location and they prep his face up, putting on some face shop products on him whilst the stylist complimented his face, to which he found his face heating up. it was different hearing it from friends than hearing it in a more professional setting.
once he’s all set up. he walks over to the set and the lights are bright as they beam down at him. they pass him a few products to which he thanks and takes a good look at. “oh, this is one of my favourite products,” he says, smiling. alright, ever the teacher’s pet, jaehyun’s done some ( a lot ) of homework the day he’d been approached by the face shop. he wasn’t about to be completely unaware when it came to the products he was promoting.
the shooting begins and jaehyun starts with a few simple poses.
“the dimples! yes, nice touch!” the photographer says aloud as he snaps the photos, to which jaehyun and the rest of the staff laugh softly at. “bring the product closer! nice! change your pose a little.”
thankfully the photoshoot goes smoothly enough, and whilst jaehyun’s sure he could’ve done a lot better, he’s satisfied. he bows to the staff, smiling as he does so before he makes his way towards the manager.
“how was it?” he asks, to which jaehyun smiles. “your first solo photoshoot.”
“hyung,” he beings, “do you think i should’ve posed a little better? did my arms look awkward?” to which sohoon can only shake his head and laugh, patting jaehyun on the back.
his dorm room has become a bit of a safety net, as minho tends to lock himself up in the time they're home, not able to stomach much else other than sleeping and...just lying there. as the weeks and days pass, his mood has become apparent, and he himself can't help but feel like a ticking timebomb some days. today is a similar one, so once he's tucked into his bed, curtain pulled to cover his bed with privacy, he doesn't feel quite as ready to explode.
though after lying in the room for a while, dozing in and out of sleep as his roommates go about, he hears a knock on the door. stiffening, he frowns, staring at the curtain covering his view of the door. he can't make out anything past the dark fabric, but he can hear the shuffling of either jihoon or jaehyun. minho doesn't move, barely even breathes as the door is answered. it's confirmed to be jaehyun answering when minho makes out his voice, but he resists the urge to flinch when he hears the muffled minho's not here right now.
he finally shifts when he hears the door shut, breathing out a soft sigh as he shoves his face further into the blanket that's wrapped around his head. he lays there for a silent moment, before he sniffles, tugging the blanket away from his mouth to call out softly. "...thanks, jaehyun-ah." his voice is hoarse, in the way it is when you haven't used it in a while. he falls silent, teeth worrying his lip. he moves to sit up, rustling and shuffling himself out of the blanket cuccoon he's created. he reaches out to move the curtain, hesitating for a moment. he swallows, breathes out harshly and pulls it open. peering out, he uses one hand to rub at his eye tiredly. "...ya didn't 'ave 'ta cover for me." he mumbles quietly, clearing his throat when his accent slips out more noticibly.
minho's exhausted when he gets back to the dorm, way late into the night when he should have been asleep and resting before they have to get up and return in the morning. his limbs ache from all the extra practice he's been pushing in-- and his stomach grumbles weakly. he hasn't eaten at all since breakfast, skipping both lunch and dinner due to his lack of an appetite. but he's tired, too tired to even consider making something to eat, so minho is all for washing up and collapsing into his bed. he'll eat in the morning, he tells himself.
but when minho steps through front door, wonwoo is in the kitchen, and he freezes upon sight. staring at the other with his eyebrows raised, he doesn't move, doesn't say anything for a minute-- before he lets out a soft sigh. he shuts the door quietly behind him, locking it and taking his time to kick off his shoes. "hey," he says quietly in greeting, reaching up to tug off his mask and ball it up in his hand. shoving it into his jacket pocket, he pulls off his jacket hoodie and moves to cross into the kitchen. grab a water, and then go. he avoids eye-contact with the other as he does, moving to open the fridge.
the feeling in the passing weeks of june make him feel uncomfortably vulnerable. his mood has downright plummeted, and he knows it’s affecting how the other members have begun to respond to him. it makes him feel all the more worse about it, and all he wants to do is sleep and practice-- something to focus and something to avoid the mess of thoughts and worries going on in his head.
he hasn’t left the dorm much outside of going to royal, and definitely doesn’t feel like leaving his bed at all when he's home. tonight, he had crawled into the sheets after managing to bite down a couple bites of food to appease, and he hasn’t moved much since.
his eyes are swollen. he’s stopped crying enough to snooze between, and he’s woken up by the sound of his shared bedroom door opening. the blankets feel heavy over his head, muffling everything after the door closing. he slows his breathing, briefly wondering if it’s already morning-- but he’s tensing as someone’s sliding into his bed, tucking close. minho’s hazy brain takes a second to think, and before he can really get a coherent thought together, he’s already tugging the blanket away from his face, sniffling as he squints at seonho’s familiar face.
“hey,” he whispers, or tries to. his voice comes out in a low, hoarse crack that he grimaces at. “wh...why are ya ‘ere?” it’s blunt, confusion twisted in his tone.
recorded ... june 16th, 2020
uploaded ... june 21st, 2020
dance choreography to billie eilish’s when the party’s over ;
< song reference ; psd credit >
everytime minho hears a piece of music, he's creating some sort of choreography in his head about it. most of the time, it never comes to fruition-- either he's too lazy to try or no time to even give it proper thought. but minho wants to try-- do some sort of dance that isn't just de:code's music. needs to do something to get his mind off of everything going on around him.
approaching manager kim (sohoon hyung, his manager reminds him with a tired smile and a dramatic sigh), he brings up the idea awkwardly. he feels bad, knowing he's avoided talking to sohoon hyung and the rest of the team as much as he can in the passing days. his mind is still muffled, still clouded in worry over his grandmother.
when sohoon alerts him a day or two later about the idea being okay, he's happy to have another thing to focus on.
it's easy to fall into the music, to let the melody take his body in the right direction. he tries it freely once-- letting the soft tone of the singer's voice lull him along. the first take feels a bit rough, too many pauses as he tries to figure out transitioning techniques in the like. the second goes a bit better-- and this time he records, monitors himself so he can figure out exactly what needs to change. it's on the fifth time going through that he thinks he has a semblance of an idea-- and he can tweak it in the passing days following up to the inevitable recording.
the day of, minho's not really nervous, but he's not really confident either. he's just-- here. ready to get some bit of whatever he's feeling out of his body and into a different outlet. dancing's always made him feel good afterwards, and he hopes this will be the same just as well.
he's barefeet, clad in white as the music starts. his arms move immediately, limbs jerking to abrupt stops before flowing smoothly-- reminiscent of the tune of the song. his expression is relaxed for the most part, if not a bit tense with focus. his movements are sensual, emotional-- fingertips trailing across the floow as his feet skid. his body pivoting and twisting before standing still.
he feels as though he doesn't feel anything else but what the music is telling him to feel. doesn't think about anything else than matching the motions of the dance with the rise and fall of the vocals. falls to the ground when it calls and moves across the floor-- raises a hand to the air and keeps it there with a look so raw minho's sure to be embarrassed by it later on.
it's the constant push and pull of the song that guides his movements, fast and smooth, slow and sensual. his heart beats erratically in his chest-- he feels stripped, laid bare as the music come to an end, as the dance reaches it's final moments.
and as he takes several steps back from the camera, hand raking through his hair as he fights to catch his breath-- he feels his heart lighten up just a teeny, tiny bit.
june 5th, 2020: choreography for ‘can you feel it?’ first introduced.
relief is all he feels at finally being introduced to the choreography for their first comeback. it had felt real from the moment they were handed the demo and line distribution, but there’s familiarity and comfort in dance that won just can’t replace — that comes close to that he feels with the kim family; his family. he doesn’t think he’ll ever be the biggest fan of the long hours of training, particularly around these times in the preparation schedule when they’re introduced to something for the first time and tasked with mastering it at the speed of light. but, with that being said, it’s a little more bearable when it’s dancing.
the practice room lights warm his skin as he stretches his back, eyes fixed on the video on the company tablet. the choreography to their new song feels a little more sophisticated than ‘gorilla’, but he supposes it isn’t hard to beat banging your chest in that regard. it’s harder than he expected when he first heard the song itself. after all, it’s a softer touch than ‘gorilla’ ever was, but fast-paced, detailed hard and arm movements completely erase all his worries about simplicity. won has always picked up dances reasonably fast, but it’s going to take him a while to feel satisfied with his own version and strangely, he feels at peace with that. where he thought he’d feel stress, nervousness, he’s calm. they don’t have a set date yet, so maybe he’s a little complacent with time but part of him thinks a lot of it is just gratitude that the dance lives up to how much he adores the song on its own. ( is there anything worse than a great song with a boring choreography, or vice versa? maybe when your ice cream melts down the side of your cone and onto your hands, but other than that, he doesn’t think so. )
he definitely won’t ever love being stuck in the royal building until all hours of the night, but it’s a blessing in disguise when he doesn’t even realise the time ticking away. they say it flies when you’re having fun and maybe that’s true because he has multiple missed texts and calls by the time he decides to give it up for the night. had he really been dancing that long? and yet he felt like he’d made so little progress on the intricacies of it all...
but tomorrow is a new day, and the video continues to play on his phone, gaze glued to the screen all the way back to the dorm. even tucked in bed waiting for mingyu to finish in the bathroom, he’s jigging about, arms waving in time to the beat only in his head.
he feels so good about this comeback; he just has to hope that hope lasts.
ROYALs WHITE LOTUS & DE:CODEs VICI
Print-Ad Photoshoot June'20
Trevi Sparkling Water
contrary to the set of a drama, kang joon was too familiar with the set-up for photoshoots. it's been a little while, since he had been to one without his members but just by himself and even, when it was nothing big, just a simple advertisement shoot for trevi's sparkling water, he was kinda excited. compared to what he had experienced before, this felt different than back then, since now he was a idol and he had to get used to the moments, when seeing his own visage in public more often from now on. the product to be advertised was just "water", but he was still happy to be allowed to do something he was confident in. of course he was striving for bigger modeling jobs sometime, as he was sure to be able to make use of his charisma to the fullest, but for now, he just wanted to help his group to gain more popularity, by appearing in popular magazines in july.
with a big smile on his lips, he entered the set on july 15th, bowing at the director who approached him as soon as he was notified of vici's arrival. kang joon needed to make a good first impression, both for his own and his group's sake, so he politely greeted the older man and shoke the offered hand enthusiastically. he was aware that his charm drew attention, but without the right attitude everything was in vain. so he tried his best to show his best behaviour, listening closely to the director's short explanation, before smiling and excusing himself to be lead to the dressing room. as he was prepared, kang joon held some small talk with the staff members who were buzzing around him, reminded him of past days, where he had often acquaintanced and befriended all kinds of people.
in this industry networking was important, and as he was given the chance to meet people outside of royal and de:code, kang joon wanted to make the best out of it. when the preparations were done, he was brought back to the set. it was summer, and trevi's was the perfect drink for sunny days.
