weightless | idol producer

Chapter 1

When they first met, You Zhangjing was just a singer and Lin Yanjun was just a pretty boy with a deep voice. They were blossoming (or at least trying to be) trainees in the peak of fall, and they definitely did not get along.

"Haven't you been training for months now? I would think Chaoze would've taught you something about coordination. My feet are going to explode if you stomp on them one more time." Lin Yanjun was selfish and cold. He did not care for much except himself and his rap, and he definitely did not care for chubby boys that trampled on his feet in the middle of dance practice.

"Maybe if you didn't spend so much time looking at yourself in the mirror you could prepare yourself next time. And I'd be doing you a favor if I broke your feet; maybe it'll bring your ego back to Earth." You Zhangjing was dramatic and loud. He made easy friends with almost anyone, except for narcissistic, judgmental, disrespectful, incorrigible, condescending -

Well, except for Lin Yanjun.

It got to the point that Chaoze, their lead dancer and choreographer, had to keep them in separate training rooms so their bickering wouldn't burden the other trainees' practicing. Winter and spring passed as they trained on separate sides of the same building, ate on opposite sides of the same table, and walked down the different hallways that reflected their different paths. They integrated into the trainee group at Banana Culture Ent. without the presence of each other, but that is how they flourished.

Yanjun's training was soon brought to a hiatus when he was called back home to Taiwan in order to be with a sick family member. He packed his bags and left, leaving the other trainees to their own development as the blossoming boy accepted his year-long stagnancy.

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Thirteen months later, he came back to a celebrating practice room with banners reading "Yanjun isn't dead!" and "Now you can fix your awful pitch!" strung along the mirrored wall. Yanjun couldn't help but smile - he had missed the tinge of sweat always hanging in the air of the practice room, the feel of hardwood, flexible but durable, beneath his feet, the desperate but determined aura seeping from the corners, and, of course, his idiotic colleagues. Dinghao and Chaoze flanked him on both sides, recklessly dropping the bags Yanjun had forced them to carry from the car downstairs.

"Who takes five bags worth of clothes back home? Aren't trainees supposed to be poor? Were you there for your sick grandmother or for fashion?" Chaoze muttered, repeatedly kicking the suitcase he had just dropped with each question. Ignoring his obnoxious tanned friend, Yanjun took some time to look around. It was almost comical how much nothing had changed – Honglin, Ruotian, Maotong, and the others all looked the same in the same old room he had been in every day the previous year. The only person he didn't recognize, he noticed with confusion, was some short guy at the snacks table.

"Yo, Dinghao, who's that new guy in the corner? The one with his back turned." Yanjun asked with furrowed eyebrows. He thought Banana was done recruiting for a while, so why had they gotten someone new?

Dinghao, on top of being naturally optimistic and upbeat, was a troll. He also hated carrying loads of bags upstairs and had always gotten into fights with Yanjun anyway, so when he was handed such a beautiful opportunity to mess with the newly returned trainee, he seized it with open arms and a snicker.

"You remember You Zhangjing? That's his younger brother. Go say hi! I've heard he's actually kind of shy, but he's cute." Yanjun raised his eyebrows in surprise. Two You brothers in the same building? He couldn't even tolerate one. Ah, but Zhangjing would surely be pissed if his younger brother befriended the person he hated the most, so why not?

Yanjun sauntered over with his trademark confidence and tapped the shoulder of the brother's back, smiling and even sending a wink as the stranger turned around. "Wow, you really do look like Zhangjing," he said, leaning closer and giving the boy a once-over. He was short and small, wearing oversized practice clothes that hung off his frame and giving Yanjun the most bewildered look ever – because a random stranger just came up to him, no doubt. But the dark eyes and wavy brown hair were the same. Him and Zhangjing almost could've been twins if it weren't for their difference in stature, Yanjun noted. He laughed. "I see that you're skinnier than Zhangjing, though. I'm sure you're probably the better dancer."