and if I said yunho and yeosang late night gaming session where yeosang gets sleepy but yunho begs him for one more round just so that he can scoot closer and hope the warmth between them is enough to tempt yeosang into laying his head on his shoulder, what then? you know? if i spoke the truth. what then
Fuck it, I love y’all’s meta posts and I want to share my thoughts too. Don’t take it too seriously, it’s all in good fun ;)
Welcome to the puppies playing together, episode 192933836067. Seriously. If you’re unfamiliar with yunsang’s dynamic, playfulness makes up a major part of it.
These guys dynamic pie chart is comprised of sweetness, nudity, deadpan humor, deep respect and admiration of each other, and playfulness, as wonderfully demonstrated with the above clip.
Yunho is wandering down the stage. Yeosang is dancing and interacting with Atiny (a common sight) but he’s gradually backing away from the edge of the stage because he knows a dance break is coming up and he’ll need to head to his place.
Yeosang catches Yunho’s eye, and in a split second decision Yunho falls into a metaphorical play bow. Everything about his body language and face says “play with me” to Yeosang, and he stands there waiting for it.
And Yeosang knows as soon as he sees Yunho what he’s asking for, and adjusts accordingly. You can see it in how how moves his feet; he was going to walk past Yunho in order to get to his place for the dance, but he corrects his autopilot and steps into Yunho’s space instead.
I’d like to point out Yunho’s crossed arms, and how that makes their play more inviting to Yeosang. We know that’s he’s not the most touchy person, and if it was San or Wooyoung posing like this then he’d probably give a wider berth, expecting to be trapped in a hug and/or kiss. But from Yunho, this mock-disappointed pose, almost like a “and where are you meant to be?” tease, also tells Yeosang that Yunho isn’t going to touch him.
So, just like we’ve seen him do with Jongho, Yeosang gets bold, putting himself right up in his face and twirling around him.
Bold Yeosang seems to be exactly what Yunho wants. These two aren’t unfamiliar with being closely face to face, and they’re immune to held eye contact with each other. Yunho’s teasing nudge meets Yeosang’s measured indulgence.
Something common in their skinship is Yunho letting Yeosang take it as far as he wants. He doesn’t push Yeosang into or out of anything. It’s one of the few areas where Yunho cedes control, which is both fascinating and makes complete sense. He trusts Yeosang’s nearly unshakeable professionalism. (And admires it, but that’s a whole different post on its own.)
Neither of them are going to take it farther than intended on camera/stage… unless Yunho’s cute aggression breaks his resolve one day. Which is unlikely but I hold out hope.
Yunho leans in, happy to engage in this tiny moment of play with Yeosang, before both jump right into the muscle memory of the dance break as if nothing happened.
My point is, they are both getting enjoyment out of this, regardless of whether or not it’s fanservice. They fall in and out of this playfulness so easily because they do little things like this all the time.
I could name you dozens of other instances of this playfulness between them, this constant need to amuse the other even if it’s only for the briefest moment on stage.
The Yeosang Influence (Part 2/3- You can find part one here.)
*this is my usual rpf that i'm making up based on available materials written in the form of a tumblr essay/blogpost. pls be advised that if you disagree with something i say, you are right and i am wrong. enjoy.
Where we began
So Yunho had this coquette side since he was a little (very tall) thing but (see part 1 and his whole ang-dae-yeooo baby voice) but unlike Yeosang, Geisha Coquetry was not always his initial impulse. Take for example this early interview, where in response to a question that must've been along the lines of, Do you think I can tell my parents about my stanning Ateez? from an Atiny evidently young enough to need to care about that (Why do people romanticize being young by the way? Extreme youth sucks ass. Being a grown up is incomparably better.), he gives a very ambiguous, smart ass, mean-oppa sort of answer, using something very close to his Real Yunho Voice (tm - See discussion here)
Yunho: Would Mother and Father like our Ateez Oppa? The ones who always flip their eyes like this and go Auugh? Would they like them??
The date on this video is July 2, 2021, which means the actual response was given sometime earlier than that. I mean, this is a great answer, but it walks that line between negging the asker in a tantalizing way (Why, little girl who will be upset I call you a little girl, do you give a shit what Mommy and Daddy want you to listen to? ), and a smart-ass boy being a smart-ass in a not quite appropriate setting. It also fits the rougher image that Ateez has always had. I know International Atiny get very frustrated by the limitations placed on Ateez by the mores of Korean audiences, but from where I am sitting these people seem pretty free to run about as wild as Idols are allowed to be and still be Kpop Idol.
The thing is, unlike Wooyoung's flirty banter with his Youngbuin that went viral enough to catch my eye in my previously Kpop-free algorithm, if this footage of Yunho being a smartass was the first clip I'd seen of any of the Ateez members? It would have turned me off of Ateez. I do not find boys who get sarcastic enticing enough to pursue down a Youtube rabbit hole, even if they look like Yunho.
Showing You, Yes, You, Especially You, A Good Time
A comment that both K-Atiny and the commentary editrixes at KQ keep repeating, almost like a slogan, is 그래, 니들이 즐거우면 됬다. Which in translation is something like, Well, all right, I guess, as long as you guys are happy/ enjoying yourselves, that's enough. In the case of the employees at KQ who have to make the content, this often applies to when the members stop engaging with the camera (and the viewer) to instead break out into fits of giggles at some inside joke they never explain. From the K-Atiny, this phrase is applied to when a government pairing (ooh look at me use new vocabulary!) gets too into BL Fanservice on stage or in (often deceptively, it must be added) edited content to an extent that the fan feels left out, or in the worst instances, turned off altogether. It's a lament, when a fan says it, because if she was happy with what she was given, she could just take the thrills and apply it to her IRL boyfriend or her vibrator or whoever. Having to say, I'm happy for you means, in actuality, The rules of fandom engagement dictate that I can't actually complain but this content makes me feel alienated.
And one pair, that does function as a team but isn't encouraging you to ship them, Ekangmo, Yeosang and Yunho, are excellent at never ever forcing the K-Atiny to have to feel that 그래, 니들이 즐거우면 됬다 (I'm happy if you two are happy) type of resigned acceptance. They are working as a team to make us happy, rather than each other. The very consistent audience orientation, which is I think a discipline that Yeosang is actually really great at practicing because it just comes naturally to him (whereas Yunho has to be deliberate about it), is just so fizzy and fine.
WHERE IS THE EKANGMO UNIT SONG?
But until then, we have these joint lives of Yeosang and Yunho. (I'm not going to liveblog these, but only discuss the highlights. I don't think. )
Initially, Yunho Tried Out a Protector of Yeosang Type Persona
First up, because I picked it, is this one, where at 1:57 Atiny ask Yunho what Yeosang is doing, and Yunho calls him over.
Did you ffw'd to where I said? Because you hear Yunho using his real voice to call for Yeosang, and Yeosang also answer in his real voice and cadence. Yunho's voice is much lower and deeper than his 'for-showbiz' voice, whereas Yeosang's is much more sing-song and lighter than his Please I'm a Doberman Please voice.
And of course, on brand, on theme, par for the course, for the two of them address nakedness. The chat starts with Atiny asking why Yunho's shirt is all ripped up, and he answers by saying that he's trying to meet a certain level of skin exposure in tiny cumulative bits. Then he asks Yeosang if he's naked, and Yeosang replies that he's going to put something on in his singsong voice, which Yunho reaffirms.
Yunho, ever business minded, wants the pairing to have a slogan as well as a pairing name, and he solicits the Atiny to come up with something. Because their totemic mascot animals are both canine, there's a lot of barking and dog related puns in response, which Yunho disapproves of quite sternly. At 4:30, Yunho readjusts his glasses in a disappointed manner to ask, rhetorically, "You call that a slogan, everyone?" (Mean oppa could clearly have been his persona, but that wouldn't sell, you see.) Yeosang has the correct Geisha response - he evidently doesn't like the suggestions either, but he says, in his very dulcet voice (at 5:05) that "It's not necessary to come up with or finalize something right this minute. It would be nice to have something that's novel and unique feeling though." Yunho, Mean Oppa, picks the one that is based on an Ateez lyric, deciding for everyone, because he doesn't think anyone can come up with a novel and unique one that would pass muster. Because he's a mean oppa.
Yeosang, being the chakhae oppa, agrees. He wants there to be peace. They say the slogan together, which is very dorky, by the way (5:40 - 5:49). Yunho is many things but he's not actually cool, alas.
They ask the (very kind) Atiny (who are also paying to see this) what they think, and they get a very polite version of Y'all are Dorks, which is "It's cute." For different reasons, Yeosang and Yunho both object: Yeosang is for a variety of reasons sick of being called cute, and Yunho knows what they really meant to say. Then Yunho goes into mean oppa mode to Yeosang (at 6:00)- when Yeosang says what they were going for was something cool, he tells Yeosang that declaring yourself cool is what makes it cute (diminutive). Yoesang goes, Oh is that so? while Yunho laughs.
At this stage, Yunho is reactive to Yeosang as much as he is in sync and tuning himself to Yeosang. He keeps breaking out of Geisha mode to be disapproving, or sarcastic, or sharp. At 7:18, for example, they engage in a discussion about how it is that Yeosang ends his fanchats, because Yunho is very invested in the correct way to run his own fanchats. Yeosang loves being asked questions by someone who is actually going to let him answer and listen, so he gives a pretty detailed answer, but then the Yeodoongie that followed him into Yunho's chat start to tease him, gently.
And something interesting happens. At 7:44, Yunho reads some of the chatter and goes, "Wait, why are you making fun of our Yeosang? What is this? Are you playing Who Can Tease Yeosang The Most? Who? Who is teasing our Yoesang??" He drops out of 존댓말 into informal speech, defending Yeosang, because everyone must be very gentle to Yeosang (despite Yeosang being kind of savage whenever he feels like it tbh).
At 9:30, we go back to the Ekangmo perennial topic of nudity. (This is not the only reason I want the unit song and video. I swear.) Because their food had been delivered (as announced by the manager that lives with them) they were trying to wrap up, so Yunho was promising to do more of these joint fanchats - "We promise that if one of us calls the other one will come running over." Yeosang agrees, but then Yeosang says the phrase 팬티 바람으로 달려 올뻔 하다가 about this time - "I almost ran over here in nothing but my panties" - and Yunho laughs at his word choice, then he says " 서로 팬티 바람이어 가지고 조심해야 해. 어쩔수 없어." - we're constantly in nothing but panties so we have no choice but to be careful - which makes Yeosang laugh.
Korean language note: As with most other languages, there's a bazillion ways to describe being in just your underpants, as well as words that describe men's, women's, and other different types of underpants. These two guys - aged what, 25 in 2024, one very muscular, the other one very tall, using the word "panty" to describe their constant state of deshabille is a deliberate CHOICE.
Yeosang then "innocently" kicks it up a notch to say that the manager hyung is also in constant states of undress, (in just his panties) which makes Yunho give him a LOOK. Yunho tries to bring things to some sort of order, so he gives an explanation that they both turn on fanchat/livechat as their last to-do item of the day before washing up and going to bed, which is why they are in just their panties whenever they do a live. It's not that they are constantly in just their underwear in their dorm.
Yeosang doesn't concur, which makes Yunho give him a look. "That's wrong?" he asks. Yeosang laughs, then says, he dresses properly always. Yup. Suure.
Then, within a month, Yunho began imitating Yeosang outright. (to be continued in part 3. Or 7. Whatever the number should be)/
I love thinking about puppydorm activities but it's yeosang and yunho humping all over each other at any given time. or generally just being clingy. things like hugs or cuddling that can either be very sweet bonding time or turn into something desperate. just the difference in yunho being so tall and big and yeosang being a bit shorter but buff makes it appealing. like i might just explode
