Reggie Lee & Park Joon-Woo (2)

"Please, don't touch me." Joon-woo hissed, slapping Reggie's hand of help away. 

Reggie flinched hard at the action. Not because he was scared or in pain, but because of shock. Joon-woo was never known to be the comfiest with people even slightly grazing him, but Reggie had been the exception. 

It was just dance practice, and Joon-woo had misstepped on a move their instructor couldn't've explained worse. 

Reggie was only trying to help. 

Reggie looked towards the vlog camera blinking their way and could only gulp.

"Ahh– Sorry, Joon-ah… I know this dance is frustrating…" Reggie tried to play the room-silencing moment off with an awkward chuckle. His Producer10 trauma screamed at him that the editors would include their rockiest moments in the final product. 

Joon-woo suddenly straightened up, as if realizing what he had done. 

"Yes, sorry, sorry…" Joon-woo said, "This move is really hard to portray…" He sighed with a soft groan that felt all too real. 

Joon-woo was a good actor, but Reggie knew better. 

Reggie turned to meet the worried eyes of the others'. Ryeo Hyun seemed to want to approach Joon-woo, but Joon-woo discreetly signaled the elder not to. 

The camera blinked red behind them.

–+–

@daily_roonwoo_news

HELP Mi-yo is literally the ship captain

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Attached was a photo of Mi Yong staring unexplainably hard at Reggie who was "staring" at Joon-woo. 

Reggie didn't frown at the post like Joon-woo had the tendency to do when they were in the comfort of their dorm.

If you were to ask Reggie how he felt about the whole BGP, he would only explain his lack of care for it's existence. In fact, he was learning to slowly embrace it, if it brought their group success. 

Success is what got them good producers and good staff. Success is what got them a paycheck more than pennies. As trainees, they took classes about how to take good selfies, how to avoid controversy, how to analyze and cater to certain types of media. Every month they were evaluated on their looks, weight, dance, rap, vocals, and every result was posted for everyone to see.

Success is what Reggie wanted. 

Perhaps it was the unsaid pressure to be as great as his mother was. He knew a two-time actress of the year award would be hard. He knew the Number One spot in Korea's Prettiest Women for three consecutive would be impossible to reach. And it's not like his mother had even vocalized such expectations, Reggie had felt them regardless. 

And Joon-woo. 

Reggie always took Joon-woo for a success-oriented guy.

He had seen the effort Joon-woo put into media-favorable situations. He saw how Joon-woo busted his ass to be greater than the great he already was. And when Producer10 began to edit them as a possible "couple", Joon-woo played into it. 

So why was Joon-woo acting out now? 

Sure, their BGP was at a much larger scale. 

Their debut song topped charts and still hung on to the lower numbers after two weeks of release. For a debut, especially in an industry where girl groups reigned supreme, that was borderline historical.

They had already reached one million on all their socials, Witter, Tick-Tock, Nsta, and even Acebook. Mutube was almost there.

They were nicknamed 'monster rookies' thanks to their apparent dance and vocal prowess, and had their albums sold out due to poor prediction of their success. Their photocard prices were already beginning to grow outrageously, his and Joon-woo's especially…

So the pressure was there and a hundred times stronger, but why was Joon-woo only blowing up now? 

Producer10 was rocky for all of them, some more than others, so to see Joon-woo lose his cool now was… weird. Joon-woo had never lost his cool even in the scariest situations.

"Reggie?" Jung Hyun-Ok raised an eyebrow seeing Reggie up a lot later than his usual bedtime. Reggie was the early sleeper of ASCEND, if you counted getting back to the dorm at 1 A.M. and going straight to bed. 

"Oh, Hyung." Reggie hummed. 

"You're up late tonight." 

Reggie nodded. 

There was a pause, not caused by the absence of what to say but what there was. 

"I don't think Joon-woo is upset with you." Jung Hyun-Ok commented, "I think he's stressed." 

Reggie nodded, "I figured that much, I'm not just used to seeing… a negative side of him, I guess."

Jung Hyun-Ok nodded, "Does the whole… "romantic" gig… bother you?" 

Reggie shook his head, "Not really, I mean, it's helping ASCEND grow. We're more… [famous] in the smaller and weirder side of the internet now." 

"Ahh, the fanfiction and stuff?" Jung Hyun-Ok cracked a smile and leaned deeper on the couch. His ribs poked out through his pijama tee. 

Reggie nodded. 

"And that doesn't bother you, at all?" Jung Hyun-Ok interrogated, eyes fully on Reggie's expression. 

Reggie shrugged, "I feel like… almost numb to it? I don't know, it just doesn't strike me as a pressing issue." 

"Aish… Almost nothing does, for you." Jung Hyun-Ok joked. 

Reggie hummed. Was that true? 

"You really only get upset on the behalf of others." Jung Hyun-Ok continued at Reggie's silence. 

Reggie didn't want to think about it like that. He just cared for others. Ryeo Hyun and Mi Yong and all of ASCEND were the same way. 

"Well, what about you?" Reggie questioned. 

Jung Hyun-Ok chuckled, "I mean, I get upset a lot in my head." He gestured to his brain. 

"Really?" Reggie was surprised, he had never really seen his Hyung upset. 

"It's what a diet does to you." Jung Hyun-Ok shrugged, "Maybe that's why Joon-woo is irritable. I guess our bodies tolerate less overwhelm than you guys because we're eating less." 

Reggie looked at Jung Hyun-Ok's ribs with a frown. 

"What's your diet, Hyung?" Reggie knew his own was filled with a lot of unseasoned chicken breast, greek yogurt, and veggies. 

"Well when we were preparing for the comeback it was… no breakfast, a small salad for lunch with some sort of low calorie fruit, and most days no dinner. Now it's a little more? I have some chicken breast…" Jung Hyun-Ok explained almost dryly. 

Reggie's mouth hung slightly open. 

"Joon-woo's wasn't much better, probably worse even because of his height." 

Reggie sighed, "So me and Hyun Hyung's diets were the most?"

Jung Hyun-Ok hummed and pursed his lips, "I suppose so. But you guys need the protein more than we do. After all you two are the muscle heads of the group…"

Reggie supposed that was true.

"Aish… I'm too hungry to be up so late…" Jung Hyun-Ok complained, lying on the couch with a huff. 

Reggie supposed he would conjure a good dinner for ASCEND as soon as he could. 

–+–

"Gem Box? What's that?" Mi Yong questioned Mr. Jeong as he drove to their next activity. 

"An… interview channel..? There are two hosts and they basically do an analysis on your face, almost? They're a good channel for exposure." Their manager explained. 

Gem Box… Gem Box… Where had Joon-woo heard that name before? 

Carre and Kite looked at each other knowingly while Joon-woo tried to recall the show from his memories. 

Gem Box. Wasn't it the interview show run by those two gay celebrities? 

Joon-woo paused where he sat and kept his gaze focused out the window. He wanted to close his eyes and disappear. 

Seeing his bandmates in the reflection of his car window, he wondered if he should debrief them, or let them go in blind. The company hadn't sent any instructions for Reggie or Joon-woo to do any special couple-like thing.

He turned to Reggie who sat on the other side of the car they were in. 

His stomach growled below him as he rested his head against the windowsill.