hello! i know you don’t ship the idols in the They Kiss Backstage way, but i wonder if there is any ateez duo/trio whose on-camera dynamic especially interests you? something like, whenever they interact on-screen it brings you joy or otherwise capture your focus no matter whether the interest is generally positive or not.
Pairing of Interest 1: YunHwa.
First and foremost, I am very interested in what happens between Seonghwa and Yunho, any time I see them. Because (and this is the literal quote) Yunho has gone all out in trying to have a thing with Seonghwa (of the They Kiss Backstage variety, because how else do you explain I can feel everything in Seonghwa's heart.) And he just tried really hard during their EU tour, did Yunho. And yet, Seonghwa doesn't really reciprocate, quite? I mean, he dissed Yunho's body in Namhae. In early days, Yunho seemed to find Seonghwa's emotionality a little bit difficult to cope with, so what changed?? And you know, on the In Your Fantasy tour, Yunho very much WANTS SOMETHING from Seonghwa, and Seonghwa is hard to get. What it is that Yunho wants from Seonghwa is unclear, because when it's just the two of them sent to babysit a seonbae idol who can't really run a show, they create this like, giant pool of hyperawkwardness, so sometimes they have anti-chemistry.
But look at this! You have to look at things in the obsessive way I look at them, so bear with me. Like, Yunho, at the start of this, touches Seonghwa first, then maintains eye contact, Look at me look at me look at me while Seonghwa takes his sweet time about it, finishing his bit to reciprocate. Yunho needed something from Seonghwa, and he just barely got it.
In the same way that Yunho learned and absorbed a LOT about how to be the kind, safe oppa Idol from Yeosang, I theorize (based on absolutely nothing other than I want to think this) that Yunho has set his sights on figuring out what he can learn from Seonghwa about high-art stage magic. Yunho is an tv and film actor, but Seonghwa is a theatrical actor. That side of Seonghwa reached complete maturation during the EU portion of the Towards the Light tour. And I suspect Seonghwa knows that part of the motivation from Yunho is this desire to figure out how Seonhgwa does what he does, and hence the distance keeping.
Pairing of Interest 2: MinSan (*is this the pairing name? no idea)
So, this is a recent interest I've been feeling, because I've had this conversion experience about Mingi. I always thought San was so cute as well as powerful - I used to find Mingi just powerful, but now he's very cute to me.
The relationship between Mingi and San as shown to us through official footage does this same flip flop that exists in their big-gap on-and-off stage personas. That is to say - on the one hand, they do this shit, where they both rag on each other for not being good at talking.
They both are saying the other one sucks at speaking Korean, in intro to Ateez+ and the Lemon Drop murder mystery content.
Or this stuff, where during US leg of the In Your Fantasy world tour, still on going, San addressed the Logbook camera to state his opinion that people who wear sunglasses indoors are the most insufferably pretentious, just as Mingi comes out of the dressing or waiting room with sunglasses on indoors after sunset, and Mingi very calmly says, as he walks away without even acknowledging San's existence, I always wear sunglasses. Bite me, in other words.
AND YET, San will crawl into Mingi's bed to sleep there (??) and Mingi will tell that story in a really kind way, like this is just an oddball thing that his roommate does (as though everyone's roommate does this?), and he won't even kick him out. He'll considerately just wait in the living room, even as he wonders why he has to. They used to have a whole complicated and extremely dorky call-and-response handshake they did together, too. And there's lots of indications that Mingi feels indulgent and tender towards San: He approves of San acquiring more sophisticated taste in food and drink as he goes AND he wants to protect San's confidence so he can pull off his "Lord of the North" drag persona, even when the performance cracks a bit.
When San overindulged in the favoritism he was receiving from the KBS Ateez+ production team, segueing into aegyo babytalk to try to get out of going to the haunted mansion ride, Mingi was the one who felt comfortable enough with San to imitate that bit of weirdness on camera.
They're both cute oddball mama's boys who invented and inhabit very archetypal macho male on-stage personas, so whenever they cross paths (or swords), I'm very alert.
Pairing of Interest 3: Wooyoung and Yunho
If it's important to you to have a queer reading of Yunho, skip this next part. Do not read. DO NOT READ.
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Still here?
OK so. Yunho seems very straight to me. As straight as Jongho, and straighter than Yeosang, but he also is just a shit stirring weirdo (affectionate) and because he's so ultra straight he thinks all this BL shit is just extremely funny. He's found a partner in the shit-stirring side of things in Wooyoung, who likes flirting with other men without being seductive (compare contrast yet again to Seonghwa, who seduces men without flirting with them overtly).
The combination of this weird straight guy and this otherwise almost trad-masculine guy who uses flirting with other men as both a toy and an offensive weapon leads to shit like this happening, where they're kind of competing to see who can do this BL bit better, on a bigger scale, all the while generating zero actual sexual chemistry.
They're absolutely clinical. They have all the calm, slightly bored air of seasoned lab techs dissecting their 9,987th lab rat together.
None of these gifs are mine and I forgot where I got them, so if my usage offends, pls let me know and I will delete.
Wooyoung also 'performs' liking Yunho a whole lot in a very overt way, and has done that from the beginning. He'll just randomly say things that are utterly unmotivated by what's happening in the present moment - Yunho says the funniest things! he'll exclaim, when Yunho has not been shown to say anything at all in the past 5 minutes. Or he'll suddenly redirect the attention to Yunho - Oh look, Yunho is smiling! and looking really pleased about it. Yunho, interestingly, never ever does this. What's that about??
Below is a compilation of Wooyoung pointing out that Yunho is handsome, over and over and over. Yunho never once returns the compliment.
And there's SO MUCH actual kissing that Wooyoung has done and Yunho has permitted over the years, but as far as I know, they are among the least shipped pairings. I think that's kind of why they do it.
It's compliant non-compliance.
The most natural interaction they've ever had, physically speaking, is when Yunho just overpowered Wooyoung during a zombie game, completely making him disappear (because Yunho is gigantic) and bites his skulli.
And from the crumbs and bits we have been privy to, the impression I have is that Wooyoung spends free time with San, Seonghwa and Jongho, and not as much with Yunho, despite all this kissing, pepero consumption, and paying extra-attention during work hours.
They're the one pairing that I wonder, Was this planned ahead of time between the two of them? If so, why was this planned, of all things?
