genre: romance, fluff, comedy, wayv being absolute crackheads
“okay, sure, has the osaka part of the report been sent in yet? the editors need it by friday, also can you get me an estimated time for the cover photo and staff member list?”
you roll your eyes as your manage asks you a multitude of questions over the phone due to the change in arrival.
“yes i sent in the report yesterday and the cover photo will be taken on the last day. everything’s fine, don’t worry i got this.”
you hear her huff through your phone.
“okay that’s great. i read part of the preview you sent over last week and it seemed pretty good. keep up work like that and the report will be trending in no time.”
“listen,“ you start, “ i was wondering. what would happen if maybe i covered wayv in a not so unrealistic light. what if i focused more on their struggles and issue with their company-”
“y/n” your manager snaps, definitely upset. “if you do that you’re fired. do you hear me? we don’t need our company getting shit on by sm or their fans because you wanted to have some political coverage to make you feel authentic or whatever. if i see anything like that i’ll fire you right on the spot. i swear to god.”
“okay i’ll take that as no. nice talking to you as always.”
“you too” she responds flatly.
she hangs up a second later and you pocket your phone, ready to go out.
you try to push probably being fired from your job out of your mind and enjoy the day.
wayv was at the studio again today, practicing their choreography and finishing lyrics. you wanted to get more coverage on the process for the report so you decided to go as well.
the boys left earlier in the morning than you, and not wanting to wake up at 6:30 to sit in a cold practice room, you had declined.
you go to the cafeteria and get a latte and bagel for your breakfast. you tuck the bagel in your purse for later and walk out the front exit of the building to get to the bus stop.
it was cold while waiting for the bus so you put on your hat to keep warm. the bus came fifteen minutes later and you gladly boarded, taking one of the only empty spots beside a girl that looked about your age. the bus took off with a jolt and you leaned back into your seat sipping your vanilla latte.
you look over at the girl surprised, you didn’t think you knew her.
“you were in my vocal class senior year!”
you inspect the girls face more thoroughly. her sloped nose and clear skin jogged your memory.
“ohhh i remember you! you’re nene, the one who sang adele for their final exam.”
(not very well if you recall correctly)
“ya! that’s me!” she responds cheerfully while looking you up and down “and you sang....”
“i didn’t.” you reply embarrassed, looking past her at the highway falling behind the bus window.
“riiight, that was when you ran out of the exam and threw up in front of the science classrooms!”
you nod desperately trying to forget when you were too nervous to perform and vomited in front of your classmates.
“then the principal came but you wanted to come back and-”
“how’s the singing going now?” you cut in, slightly annoyed.
“oh great!” she replies with perfect teeth and rosy lips.
“i’m still doing auditions but i have a feeling something big is coming my way. plus i’ve already achieved something better!”
“what’s that” you reply, losing interest in the pretty girl from high school that you remembered was also quite boring.
“i’m dating a celebrity!” she yells.
everybody on the bus slowly turns to look at us, mostly annoyed at us being loud. you shrink down wanting to disappear from this conversation.
“oh, that’s so cool...” you say not wanting anything more to do with this girl.
“do you wanna know who it was?”
“no that’s okay, you probably shouldn’t tell people anywa-”
“what” you say a little too loudly.
“you heard me” she smirks definitely liking your shocked reaction.
she disinterestedly plays with a pink charm on her purse. she was going to make you ask to her to tell the rest of the story. you had to know a little bit more because wayv and nct 127 were both sub units.
you hated girls like this.
“nene, can you please tell me a little more? if you can, i understand if you can’t but-”
“okay, it was like 5 months ago and i was at one of the recording studios downtown doing backup vocals for this really cool band called the rain and as i was going to get a snack they literally walked right past me.”
she retells the story so perfectly and without skipping a beat. you figured she was telling the truth.
“and i totally make eye contact with taeyong. like eye contact” she emphasizes making big eyes at you while continuing.
“the recording manager said that they’d be on a break in 20 so i waited outside and when taeyong came out he says hi to me. and we talk for a little bit and he gives me his number! his actual phone number.”
“wow” you say trying to sound enthusiastic. maybe this was just a boring story and you shouldn’t have asked about it.
“so then a week later we set a date at the dorms... and you know” she says smiling cheekily at me.
“he was super sweet too, he told me this funny story of when mark went on a date with a reporter because she kept writing bad articles about them and she totally thinks that he likes her and that they’re like dating or something. anyways, when i got there..”
your jaw dropped. it made sense now. why they were nice to you and became your friend so suddenly.
why didn’t you think that the managers of wayv would also get the rough drafts of your report too. they definitely told the boys about what you had initially said.
it was apparent now that they were just using you so you’d write a positive report based off of friendship not truth.
“hey y/n?” nene says pinching your arm with her pointy nails. “oh...” she says while definitely trying to suppress her smile. “i forgot, aren’t you are reporter too?” she tilts her head looking at you bemusedly to see how you’d react.
“this is my stop” you say while gesturing to the red flashing light announcing the street that the dance studio is at.
“bye y/n!” nene screeches from inside the bus. “you know where to contact me!”
you wave meekly as the doors shut and the bus passes by you.
while walking to the studio your sadness of being deceived turns into anger and embarrassment. you hated celebrities and vocal majors and cold days and bagels.
you walk into the building and find the room number you had written down on a piece of paper. you walk up two flights of stairs and down a large hallway with closed doors.
finally, you bust into their room to see them by the full length mirrors practicing formations.
they saw the pain and anger on your face and were frightened by how different you seemed.
“y/n, are you okay?” kun asks getting up off of the floor visibly concerned.
you knew that you shouldn’t do this here for so many different reasons. but you felt like you had too. wayv meant too much to you for it all to be fake.
“is this real.” you ask, staring at them and their confused expressions.
“y/n what do you mean-” kun starts
“is this real. is our friendship real?”
they look at you quizzically. why were you bringing this up now.
“yes, we’re friends now. remember we got past the whole hating eachother bit and banded together to make music and you were gonna write the article-”
“are you just being nice to me because of my job. because you want me to write something nice about you guys.”
they stay silent as you feverishly try to push back tears. the buzz of the room is so loud in your ears.
“i know this is dumb because we haven’t known eachother for long. but i thought that we were friends. i thought you guys- you superstars liked me for who i was. i- over this week i was really happy working and talking with you guys. i’m so stupid to think that you would actually like me.”
you started to get really nervous for speaking your thoughts to them in a rom-com fashion. you wanted to crawl into the floors and disappear.
everyone is quiet for a moment. thinking over what you said as you clutch the cold bagel in your purse trying not to cry.
“what about the song? do you think that was fake? or that we do that with every reporter?” lucas asks.
“do you know what yan yu means?” yangyang asks
“of course” you reply. “ it means to speak”
“that’s going to be the name of our new title track.” he replies
you look at yangyang wanting him to explain.
winwin steps forward slightly looking at the ground.
“we called it yan yu because you allowed us to speak. because of all that you’ve done while you’ve been here. the thing we care about most isn’t the article, it’s having our own voices. we want to tell the world- through our music that we’re ready to be heard because we finally have something we can say that’s ours. this is all because of you, we can speak now because of you.”
you look into his eyes as they soften in the corners. you know that what winwin said is real because he never liked you enough in the first place to make up such a heartfelt lie.
you start to melt a little as you continue to process the words.
“if we wanted you to write a positive article we would’ve just seduced you.” hendery says. “it’s easier and probably has faster results especially if there’s more of us-”
you run and hug hendery before he finishes. you smile in his arms as he hugs you back. you pretend that you’re not crying but his shirt is probably wet now, so they’ll find out very soon.
what they said was so sincere and nice. you were now convinced that what you had with the boys was real to them too.
all of your worries from early dissipate into the stale air above you. you felt someone hug you from behind only to feel lucas’s warm chest against your back. you smiled bigger as you felt the other members join your hug, feeling warmer and warmer each time a member joins.
a moment later when they were all silent you spoke, trying to not let your voice crack from your crying.
“you deserve to be heard. you guys have so many important things to say and a lot of music that needs to be listened to. i’m glad i could help you all become the fantastic artists you’ve always been.”
you feel the hug tighten around you and you swear your heart smiles within your chest.
how were you ever going to phrase this in the report.
“no, xiaojuns arm is too far above lucas’s it looks weird.”
“are you sure that’s not what the video looks like?” ten questions walking over to inspect the boys formation.
“no shes right” he says moments later after glancing at the laptop screen.
he adjusts their arms and they slowly runs through the next steps as you try to compare them to the video they had given you on one of their laptops.
you stop them seconds later, “lucas coming down from the high kick you were behind by a few seconds and henderey you need to extend your leg more.”
they run the moves again as you enjoy your newfound power over the boys. they had been practicing a new intro choreo for their music bank performance for a little over two hours.
you had agreed to help them because you thought it would be good to add how much hard work and dedication it took to just perform a two minute intro for your article.
okay, another part of you also felt bad for barging into the practice room, accusing them of being fake friends and thinking that they were influencing you so you’d use the little power you did have to make them look good. maybe a little more of the second, but they didn’t need to know that.
“wait stop! did you guys change that cross formation there or was it in the second half.”
“um,” ten says while sweating and breathing vigorously from the nonstop motion. “we changed the triangle formation in the second half to the diagonal line. this is the cross formation.”
“okay, i wasn’t sure, i’ll mark it down. also lucas and yangyang you guys need to fix your levels on that cross because it looks unbalanced” you say while scribbling that down on the stage direction sheet.
“jeesh” xiaojun whispers to the boys, “she’s worse than our choreographer and that’s his actual job.”
the boys chuckle while glancing over at you as you wrote the note down.
“well we’ll be out of here faster and the performance will be good.” kun shrugs while trying to hold back how tired he really was.
lucas pokes kun’s shoulder with one of his long fingers and he goes tumbling down to the ground. the boys laugh hysterically.
“you won’t even be able to walk by the time we do have to perform!” lucas yells in his face while laughing at the tiny amount of pressure that had sent him tumbling to the ground.
“okay we’re gonna take it from the top one more time!” kun yells at you while trying to get up off the ground as the boys continue to laugh at him instead of helping him.
you nod and rewind the video. you had a few more notes but wasn’t sure if they could handle it today. kun seemed pretty tired so reluctantly you just pressed play and let the music run.
you watched the boys in such fascination at how fast and expertly their bodies moved. it was insane to you how some of them couldn’t even dance before becoming trainees but now were better than some professional dancers.
the boys were hard at work on this sunday afternoon. practicing the same painstaking motions over and over again until it morphed into art. to this day i will never understand how idols can turn such mundane actions into a performance piece worthy of national acclaim. for now i have only one solution, i believe there is something inside them that is extraordinary.
part 7 will be linked down here:)
