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“focus, hyunjin, focus!” sooyoung’s voice rang through the empty studio, echoing off the walls.
“right,” said hyunjin, setting his phone aside and slightly stretching before starting his routine back from the top. the music blared from the studio’s speakers at such a loud volume that sooyoung had to practically yell over the music so that hyunjin could hear her advice. also, since the speakers were connected to hyunjin’s phone, an influx of notification sounds kept popping up every three seconds. sighing, hyunjin stopped the music, disconnected his phone from the aux cord and put his phone on dnd, not before sending a quick text to the person that kept spamming him.
“jeez, do you have a fight going on in your mentions or something? that’s a fuck tonne of notifications, y’know,” sooyoung remarked, before grabbing a plastic water bottle with strawberries all over it. she made no comment on her choice in water bottles and therefore hyunjin too remained silent, though he speculated that sooyoung's girlfriend had something to do with it.
“no, it’s just… somebody…” he trailed off, his cheeks turning pink in the bright white lights of the studio.
“uh oh…” started sooyoung, giving hyunjin a look that he couldn’t quite discern. “i know that look on your face.”
“huh?” replied hyunjin, confusion replacing the so-called “Look” on his face.
“you always make that face when it’s something to do with seungmin,” she said. “those notifications were from him, weren’t they?”
“why do you know me so well,” he mumbled, the Look appearing on his face once more.
“well, you do wear your heart on your sleeve, so that’s a dead giveaway, sherlock.”
hyunjin huffed impatiently, though it was out of playful annoyance rather than anger. “it is seungmin… he keeps spamming me with puppy eye emojis, and i don’t know how to respond except for… well… cooing.” he said all of this while trying to maintain a neutral face, though it just came off as emotionally-constipated.
sooyoung paused at this, her mouth opening slightly. then she closed it, and said, “no shit, you too?”
“huh?” said hyunjin yet again, his good friend confusion reappearing on his face.
“jiwoo does the same thing, y’know. if we’re talking to each other in real life then she’s giving me physical puppy eyes, if we’re talking online then it’s those damn emojis. she knows my weaknesses so well.” sooyoung said, mindlessly fidgeting with the hem of her jacket.
hyunjin nodded, empathizing with sooyoung. from what he remembered, jiwoo was sooyoung’s girlfriend, a cheerful, bubbly girl with bangs and a really adorable voice, at least according to sooyoung. at first hyunjin could not quite fathom how sooyoung had fallen for a girl so drastically different from her, but then again it was sooyoung, and she was full of surprises - like that one time she impulsively dyed her hair a bright shade of violet a day before a performance before fretting over it later on. yes, sooyoung was full of surprises.
“now that i think about it, jiwoo and seungmin are very alike!” exclaimed sooyoung out of nowhere. “they’re both kim’s, puppy eye enthusiasts and really sweet people!”
hyunjin said, “well from what you’ve told me about jiwoo i guess so, but you’ve never really introduced me to her so…”
“oh yeah…” said sooyoung, apparently lost in thought. “well, how about a double date after the contest’s over? i think it’d be the perfect time to introduce each other. what say?”
“i’m game,” said hyunjin, connecting the aux cord to his phone and once again starting his routine back from the top. a double date sounded nice, and from what he knew of jiwoo he felt that she and seungmin would get along very well.
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well. at least hyunjin was right in his observations. seungmin and jiwoo weren’t just getting along well. they were getting along too well. right now the two of them were rapidly discussing their favourite choreographies from the anime ‘yuri!! on ice’ and they sounded too enthusiastic for people that were meeting each other for the first time. but then again, surprises, thought hyunjin.
sooyoung nudged him gently from where she was sitting next to him. “d’you think if we leave them along for too long they’ll start dating each other? because boy oh boy, i’ve never seen two people get along this well so quickly.
hyunjin chuckled. “yeah no, they seem like the type to go “no homo, full bromo”... you feel me?”
“hm, i can see that. well, i’d better ask them to finish up their weeb talks because it’s getting pretty late.” saying this sooyoung excused herself from this side of the table.
hyunjin sighed in a philosophical manner as he looked at seungmin’s contact on his phone who knew a fucking emoji could make people friends? he stared at the contact name. while people thought of elaborate nicknames for their significant others, he had saved the boy’s name with one simple emoji. just puppy eyes.
yes, he thought, smiling to himself as he watched seungmin and jiwoo do the “JJ Style” signature hand move. just puppy eyes. that was all he needed.
“i'm in love with you and all these little things.”