#renxbe

[benayoung]

* ❁┆ team building

there's some tension on her team for the finale. she feels like that's an understatement, too. for one, ren hates two members of the team. he's managed to keep it together, but nayoung knows him and knows he's barely holding it together. siwoo and jay also seem to be good friends whose powers combined may lead to disaster if not handled properly. she's pretty sure luciel and siwoo still have some sort of beef, too. all in all, it's a mess, and it shows in their performance. it's a total lack of synergy, and nayoung has little patience for it all. so she does what she usually does: tries to solve the problem as soon as possible.

nayoung knows it won't be easy, and doesn't expect her idea to fix everything. she just hopes it helps. she knows there's a possibility that it'll backfire, but nayoung is also aware that sometimes confrontation is necessary to work through any negative feelings toward one another. if this activity ends up starting a fight, it's probably a fight that needs to happen to clear the air and let the group as a whole move on and focus more effectively.

naturally, not everyone was happy about the exercise, but they ended up relenting and agreeing to participate. she had them draw pieces of paper numbered 1-7 to determine the order they sit in in the circle.

fate would have it be that some of the team members with the biggest problems with each other are seated together. luciel is seated on her left, and siwoo next to him, followed by inho. next is jay, then ren, and seira rounds out their circle, seated on nayoung's right.

"okay, let's go left in the circle. say something nice about the person to your left, and share something you're proud of yourself for related to next gen," she reminds everyone. "i'll start."

"i'm proud that i was able to help two teams take first place this season," she says, and she hopes it doesn't sound like she's bragging, or taking all the credit for it. "and of the team members, of course," she adds for good measure.

next, she has to say something nice about luciel - or jihyun, as she should probably call him. "i like that jihyun is good at handling criticism and applying it quickly, even if it's hard to hear." she's talking about her calling him forgettable. he certainly took what she said to heart, and earned praise from the judges last episode.

"okay, your turn," she smiles at him, and it might actually be uncharacteristically warm.

THE MOST AMBITIOUS CROSSOVER IN CINEMATIC HISTORY with @lucielxbe @besiwoo @inhobe @bejaeyoung @renxbe @beseira

[bejoomi]

* ♪ – i need somebody

( cw: depression )

joomi has been training by himself lately.

he's doing everything by himself lately, really. next gen is consuming the lives of just about everyone close to him, and there's nothing he can do about it. it would make sense for him to reach out to others, and build relationships with friends he didn't spend much time with – but that's not what he does.

instead, he shuts down; returns to old habits, starts believing that maybe he was right when he was a kid and that he really is the only person he'll ever really have. he knows it's dramatic. he knows it's pathetic. he's been dramatic and pathetic for months now. the loss of training alongside his best friends is just the final straw after all of the building weight he's been carrying, and he is breaking.

maybe that's why he keeps to himself, too. he doesn't want to subject anyone to how miserable he feels; he doesn't want to humiliate himself around anyone else by being so fucking pitiful. besides, the only person he really has to train with is jinyoung, and he doesn't really have him. not like he used to. not like he needs to, or feels like he needs to. he doesn't really, though. he knows he doesn't need to, that he has no right to. god, he fucking knows.

i'm so sick of this.

that's his main thought, as he sits curled up in the corner of the room he, ren, and dohyun usually work in together. he can't even write now – not anything other than the words he wishes he could tell jinyoung but doesn't know how to say yet. he filled a whole notebook of them already: confessions, admissions, accusations, petitions. nothing useful for a half-decent song.

he still feels so stupid for all of it, but he thinks of sua, sometimes, frowning at him and saying stop calling it stupid. he's tried to think it less since then. he wonders sometimes, if his feelings make sense; if anyone in his position would feel the same way – if there's anyone who can live like this and live happily.

most of the time he thinks it's just him.

he stares listlessly at the wall across from him for what may be hours, until he eventually flops onto his side and lays on the floor, still tucked away. he doesn't know if the custodial staff will wake him and tell him to leave if he falls asleep here. he doesn't know if ren or dohyun will come. he doesn't know if he wants them to.

@renxbe *

[besooyoung]

let the stars sort it out --* w/ @renxbe

it still feels weird, having a key to her own apartment. a place that’s hers, not borrowed or temporary or half-lived in. weird, but good. good in that quiet, unfamiliar way that makes her nervous if she thinks about it too long.

so she doesn’t. she thinks about the evening air instead. about how the rooftop view isn’t anything spectacular—mostly other rooftops, laundry lines, neon signs from a noraebang two blocks away—but still, it’s hers.

she hears the door creak behind her and doesn’t turn around. just offers a small glance over her shoulder and a smile that’s more tired than anything else.

“you always find your way to a rooftop anyway, figured i’d beat you to it for once.”

it’s not mean. it never is with him. her voice carries a teasing lilt, like a string she’s offering him to pull. like always.

she doesn’t know what they are—hasn’t dared try to name it. it’s slower than anything she’s ever felt before, but maybe that’s why she lets it happen. whatever’s between them, it moves like molasses, soft and clumsy, quiet as a secret. but it’s there.

she gestures with a slight nod to the spot next to her on the blanket she dragged up earlier, knees pulled to her chest, hoodie sleeves swallowed past her palms. she’s still in training clothes, hair pulled up, skin bare and warm with the day’s leftover heat. a half-drunk bottle of pocari sits nearby, condensation beading against the plastic.

"they didn’t kill me today," she says lightly, breaking the silence, "though i think my quads might just disown me tomorrow."

her fingers toy with the edge of the blanket. her shoulder brushes his for the first time, and when she doesn’t immediately move away, that’s its own kind of invitation. eventually, her head tips gently against him—hesitant at first, then more fully.

it’s not a grand gesture. it’s just comfort. just stillness, and admittedly, it's almost exactly what she needed. "whoo," she sarcastically cheers, "officially part of the overworked and underpaid idol machine."

[besiwoo]

reason // starter for @renxbe

siwoo isn't too sure what exactly brings him here. the weather is a little insane, and it's the closest cafe he can find. he isn't a complete idiot though, and it isn't lost on him that it's a cat cafe of all things - but food is food, and he doesn't mind the company of a few cats.

sure, he could be spending his time practicing but he'd like to at least allocate one day ( just one day! ) to rest - not surrounded by his managers, or staff members, by the constant reminder that he has to work double, triple hard. cats always seemed to do whatever the fuck they wanted, maybe this wasn't a terrible place to start.

he enters the cafe, and it doesn't really come as a surprise to him when he hears a few gasps. he hadn't done much to conceal himself today. if anything he's learned that wearing a cap and a mask attracts more attention than not wearing anything at all.

thankfully, it isn't terribly crowded and he finds his way to the counter soon enough. just something refreshing, and maybe a sandwich if they have those on offer. his eyes peel away from the menu and then at the - huh?

he could've sworn he saw a staff by the counter. he takes another step closer, and carefully, peeks over only to be met by the sight of ... "ren?" he says aloud, clearly surprised. "ren, is that you?"

[bejoomi]

– rehash

early february, 2025

ren is weird.

ren is always weird, to be fair – he's ren. but it's different now, and joomi isn't stupid. he's actually pretty observant, so he knows ren is upset with him over something.

truthfully, he's too exhausted to approach the subject for a while. the holidays and his birthday were lonely and not at all what he hoped they'd be when he imagined them months ago. he's tired and he's sad and he just hasn't had the mental and emotional capacity for whatever it is ren has going on.

but ren is joomi's friend – one of his best friends, even – and when it doesn't just go away after a few weeks, joomi knows they have to talk about it. he's probably about to feel stupid for not knowing what he did once ren explains it, but whatever. as much as he wishes he knew everything, he doesn't. he's not a mindreader, especially when it's draining to try to be.

so he heads to their usual studio during their free practice time. sure enough, ren is there already, in his usual chair, situated in its usual spot. they haven't properly written anything together in a while now. joomi has been writing too much about jinyoung's absence, and it hasn't felt right to share those feelings with ren, at least not yet. he misses it, though, so he hopes they can fix whatever's going on.

"do we need to talk?" he asks, not seeing the point in beating around the bush. he kind of expects ren to explode any moment.

–– @renxbe

[be-points]

ZHOU AREN RENYI - CHRISTMAS CONCERT 2024

preparation: +5 dance, +5 presence [ X ]

[bexstevie]

dance all night.

< w. @renxbe >

stevie loves to dance, and he's more than happy they've been given a pretty fun choreography to work with. already a vertex fan, which has made the days of practice go by pretty seamlessly-- stevie's mood is pretty high. every year gets better he finds, and especially since becoming a trainee on top of all that healing, it's hard to knock his mood down. not even how busy training has been could get him down right now.

a lot has changed over the last few months during his time in studio delta. new people have come. some people have left. the vibes have been up and down along with the general holiday cheer and gloom it naturally brings. stevie's lucked out in the cheer department this time around, so he's been dead set on trying to spread it to the rest of the people around him.

after being dispersed, stevie makes a beeline for ren, stopping by him to playfully knock into the other's shoulders. "i'm calling dibs on you," he switches to english, cheeky grin on his face. "i'm going through the third and fourth verse. come practice with me?" stevie asks, even going as far as giving ren a pout.

[bejoomi]

* ♪ – shine

joomi is a little overwhelmed.

it's mostly in a good way, but he's feeling a similar in over his head that he did during his early days on next gen's first season. that ugly imposter syndrome rears its head, if only a little.

delta's staff just assigned them their parts for their performance at the christmas concert. joomi gets to introduce the group as a whole. he also starts the song, with a rap, and ends the song. not only that – but he shares the harmonized high note with ren.

part of joomi feels drastically unqualified for these responsibilities. part of him, however – and a far larger part than he expects – thinks, is there really anyone better for this? the delta and axis staff didn't seem to think so, so he figures he should trust their decisions, and trust in his own ability to perform well.

there is one problem: their instructors didn't assign who gets the lower and higher harmony between him and ren. one of them will get to hold out the note in a proper high note, and the other will just be there to compliment the moment. and they get to decide, apparently.

part of joomi wonders if the staff is aware ren occasionally has a weird inferiority complex with him. maybe this is a test to see if they can overcome it, and come to a compromise without any strange resentment, or anything similar.

of course joomi wants the high note. it would be a great accomplishment and showcase of his skills to open the song with a rap, sing the high note, and close the song. it's odd for him to want something that will garner him so much attention, but he's worked so hard for the past year. it's fine to want to show it off a little, isn't it?

at the same time, he doesn't want the performance to become the joomi show. he wants all of the other boys to shine too. and he also doesn't want to give ren more reason to envy him or resent him than he apparently already has.

ultimately the best thing to do is talk about it. he isn't sure how hard he'll push for his own desires, if at all – but they'll come to a decision one way or another.

"so, what do you think about the high note?" he asks ren, once they're given time to practice the song independently. "what do you want to do?"

– @renxbe