#☾ nova

*. ☆ september — the new boy in town(mentioned:@rkvok​ )

Hosung hadn’t known what to expect when they were all gathered together but he certainly wasn’t expecting that. A ton of emotions rolled through him: surprise, disbelief, anger, stubborn disapproval. How dare they replace Hugo on such short notice? He had barely just left, the wound still fresh in all their hearts, and now they were just going to add someone new and pretend that their dynamic would still be the same. Yeah, way to go, CEO, well thought out plan right there.

It wasn’t the new kid’s—Moonbok—fault that he was being thrown into the deep end. Hosung was sure the room dropped by 10 degrees when he was introduced, the rest of the members to stunned to really say anything. Not that they could say anything other ‘okay, thank you’. It just felt so… disrespectful.

Too soon.

The atmosphere in the dorm was awkward to say the least and he was glad that he wasn’t sharing a room with the newbie. Hosung did feel a tiny (teeny tiny really) twinge of guilt as he gave Moonbok the cold shoulder, barely even looking at him the first few days. He just got so irrationally annoyed every time he saw him. How was he supposed to replace his best friend? He really hated how everything had been handled, his stomach feeling like it become the Gordian knot every time he thought about the whole situation, which was unfortunately rather often.

“You’llnever be Hugo.”

As soon as those words rolled off his tongue, Hosung felt a wave of guilt crash over him as he could see the pure hurt on the other’s features. Fuck. This wasn’t who he was. When had he become so bitterandmean? Hugo would definitely not want him acting like a complete and utter prick. But words could never be unsaid. He knew that Moonbok was struggling with the dancing and adapting to being on a team full of strong characters, and here he was making his life even more difficult.

Despicable.

Towards the end of the second week Hosung relented, determined to patch things up and let his misplaced anger go, so he quietly invited Moonbok to join him at their local convenience store. He treated him to some ramen and a drink, apologising for his behaviour as they ate, “I’m really sorry and deeply embarrassed to have acted in such an asshat manner. Also… I want you to know that I don’t want you to be Hugo, I want you to be PER_SE’s Moonbok, to find your own place in the team…” He smiled gently at his new teammate before leaning in to place a quick kiss on his cheek, a grin break across his features. 

“And that, my friend, is a true PER_SE welcome.”

collaboration with @rkwendy for the @novaent yt channel to be uploaded on 31/08
based on this cover

Hugo’s departure hit Hosung like a sledgehammer.

It didn’t feel real—nothing did. He felt empty. As empty as the spot where all Hugo’s things used to be, where he used to sleep. Hosung found himself often standing in the doorway staring at his old bunk, all stripped, hoping—wishing—that he’d hear his laughter and see him walk around the corner and ask why the long face. He knew it would never happen. As much as it hurt him he knew it must’ve been an excruciatingly painful decision for Hugo. PER_SE meant so much to him he would’ve never given that up unless it was serious. 

Even though he understood his heart still ached for his best friend. He knew he wasn’t alone in his grief and had reached out to Wendy for some heart to heart conversations. They were both artists and what better way to work through your feelings than through music?

AND*ROMA were busy promoting their new songs but they managed to work around it. Hosung felt bad for taking time away from his friend to rest and recuperate whenever there was an opening in her schedule, but at the same time felt rather excited to be working with her. They’d been half-joking about it for a while now and finally something had come out of it, thanks to their dear shared husband.

Wendy had been an angel and managed to arrange the song in way that suited them both and incorporated him on a guitar. With only a few rehearsals under the belt Hosung felt confident enough to record. His vision was simple, nothing fancy, just them on stools singing with soft background lighting. After some hunting he found a small room in the Nova building that didn’t look like a closet or a practice room and thought it perfect.

Since this was a rather personal project Hosung involved minimal staff in the process, choosing to get hands on in setting up the lighting, cameras, and furniture. It was rather fun even though it was hard work, but he hoped the satisfaction when seeing the finished product would make up for all his doubts (mostly about himself).

The actual filming itself went smoothly. Wendy’s voice sounded heavenly, laden with emotion that made his chest tighten as he played the accompanying guitar, thinking of all the fun times he and Hugo had shared since he had signed to Nova. His own voice was low, mellow, but containing the same sadness and longing as the other’s. Hosung forgot about the cameras, opting to just look at Wendy, wanting to match and complement her performance. She was so skilled and much more accomplished than himself that he was happy to lift her up and play a supporting role.

After the last note faded, Hosung allowed himself to close his eyes and let a couple of tears roll down his cheeks before gently wiping them away with his sleeve. That wouldn’t make the cut—hopefully. 

“Thanks Wendy… for doing this with me. You’re an angel. Also… I’m here if you need me.”

It’s been a long day without you, my friend
And I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again
We’ve come a long way from where we began
Oh I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again
When I see you again

Now, Hosung didn’t necessarily think of himself as someone super creative but ever since joining the company and becoming a member of PER_SE something had changed. He’d become more driven to showcase more of himself outside of his role as an idol performer, to be seen as more of an artist rather than the product of a couple of survival show and a whole team of coaches. Lately there had been an idea kicking around in his head, not fully formed yet, but something that he’d gotten really stuck on.

He wanted to create an official collaboration series featuring each member of AND*ROMA.

Since their whole concept were sister and brother groups it made sense to utilise that. It wasn’t like anything else was really happening with the two of them anyway. It had all started when he’d talked to Wendy and asked her to perform a duet with him—some time in the future—and talked about getting it uploaded to the official Nova youtube channel. But so far this was all just a fuzzy idea in his head with some thoughts jotted down into a notebook for possible creative directions.

Song covers would be the easiest to do and would be something that the fans would expect as well. Hosung had no qualms about taking the back seat in the videos either, thinking that it could be an interesting take if he played the backing instrumentals to whoever was singing. Or dancing. Dancing was also an option. He’d already done a special stage with Xiao which turned out to be loads of fun, so doing a collaborative dance didn’t phase him either. The only thing that would be tricky—in all of this—would be getting the girls on board with this.

Time was already scarce and with PER_SE promoting and AND*ROMA gearing up for promotions he had no idea where to squeeze his little project in. But he was determined to make it work.

*. ☆ july 17th—sbs power fm (mentioned@rkhuidong@rkrxcky​@rkhugo​)

There was nothing that Hosung liked more than being on a radio show—other than performing on stage and meeting fans of course. He’d long thought about becoming a radio host, if not having his own show then at the very least having his own segment. What exactly it was that drew him towards radio, a media that was almost a little bit outdated, Hosung couldn’t say. But there was just something so pleasing about turning on the radio and listening to the soothing tones of your favourite host and hearing the advice and nuggets of wisdom they imparted at times.

Hosung wanted to be that calming person who could make someone’s day better. There was so much stress in every day life… he wanted to be a healing oasis in the midst of the chaos.

The cameras caught his wave as he sat down next to Hui-hyung as he waited for the show to start. Being the youngest there he was content to let Hui take the lead on most questions, chipping in when needed and teasing him lightly throughout. It was easy to be clingy and affectionate even when he knew he’d get scolded in the van home about his verbal poking and prodding. 

The questions were relatively tame, many of them regarding their promotion, and easy enough to answer. Of course, Hosung liked to add a little flavour now and then (if he didn’t it’d be too boring and no one liked a boring story) but he never went overboard. Sure, maybe he hadn’t seen a ghost outside his practice room—in reality the ghost had been a pale faced Ricky passing by but that was too mundane— but like… who was going to call him out on it?

“And here’s the last question for this segment! Do you have any close idol friends? Or other celebrity friends?”

Hosung grinned and looked at their host as he nodded. “I mean, everyone in per se is my friend—even Hui-hyung—but I don’t think that’s the answer you’re looking for,” he chuckled. “My best idol friend, other than Hugo, is probably karma’s Doyeon. We’ve known each other since we were in primary school. She used to live near me actually. But lately we haven’t been able to meet since our schedules are pretty busy…” A wistful smile crept over his lips. Before he could fully comprehend what he was doing Hosung leaned in closer to the microphone and began to speak. “Kim Doyeon, are you listening? Have you eaten? It’s been a while since we last met, right? Anyway, listen to your unnies and take care of yourself. I miss you… Don’t get hurt, you hear? I’ll be mad if you do…”

It wasn’t until after he’d shut his mouth that Hosung understood the implications of his behaviour. Oh boy, his CEO was sure to have a field day with this one… especially if fans made a huge fuss about it. He hoped that they’d take his words at face value and not construct any elaborate theories over their relationship. But netizens were unpredictable at best.