young & wild | chaeyu

sixth ; idolize

 Dahyun wasn't much of a dancer to start with. When she'd first got into YW, it had been to be a model, not a musical trainee. But it was a matter of days after she was accepted that the entrancing Jimin Park made her breakout comeback that raised more attention to the company and made the public turn their eyes towards the music of YW. Dahyun, who had auditioned as a singer, but wanted for her visuals, promptly had her role switched to be a musical trainee-- hopefully of the company's first group, but that was a plan still in the making.

It wasn't long after Dahyun had started to dance that she realized she loved it. She had a lot of difficulty with putting power in her moves, but she enjoyed practice, and was becoming quite good with having sharp, defined movements.

The problem was, Dahyun was insecure.

She believed she wasn't spectacular in any element of being a musician. She thought she could sing okay, and had been told many times that she had a beautiful tone. But she didn't have the range or power of the company's main artists, Jihyo and Jimin, and her range was lacking.

Then there was rapping. Dahyun enjoyed rapping, too. Chaeyoung had taught her quite a few techniques for fun, and she had gotten pretty good at it, if Dahyun could say so herself. And she'd always enjoyed poetry, so she was able to write some of her own raps since the two shared many elements. But enjoying it and being able to write average raps didn't make her skilled enough to be just a rapper, and certainly not a main one.

When Dahyun had first transitioned to a musical trainee, she'd been very uncertain about dance, and whether she'd be able to dance sufficiently. Being worried and concerned about this, Dahyun began to research different techniques and types of dance, along with famous and talented dancers. After digging through information about people like Boa, Minzy, and Chungha, she felt even more uncertain about her abilities. They were all good, and she liked their styles but they seemed all too distant. Like people from another universe. Dahyun couldn't relate to them if she tried.

Still, now she was training to be a musical idol and she needed a main focus. She couldn't make it into a group just by smiling and making people laugh. Variety personality was important, she knew that, but groups were chosen primarily for their musicality, not a pretty face or acting talent.

Dahyun had absolutely no idea what to do with herself. She spoke to her instructors, and practiced whatever dance they threw at her, but she couldn't really get the musicality of the movement down. Generally, she needed an example to base her abilities off of, to inspire her and give her more of a desire to keep pushing. With singing, she had found that in some of her idols. With rap, she had found that with Chaeyoung, one of her friends. With dance, Dahyun eventually found herself drawn to Momo.

When Dahyun had confessed to Chaeyoung how hard it was for her to get interested and involved in dance, Chaeyoung had reminded her of the Japanese solo artist and dancing machine Hirai Momo. Dahyun had heard of her-- they were from the same company, after all-- but she was in an entirely different country, and they hadn't met before.

Honestly, Dahyun wasn't that impressed at first. Momo was very, very beautiful, Dahyun had noticed, but she wasn't blown away by Momo's singing. And her vocals was what Dahyun focused on, since she was a musical artist, and music always comes before looks. Then Chaeyoung had reminded Dahyun that she wasn't an idol because she had a phenomenal voice, but because of her dancing.

Three performance videos later, Dahyun was hooked. And feeling very gay, but that was irrelevant.

Dahyun's focus in her dance training became laser focused, each movement deliberate and immaculate in it's movement. Like her singing and rapping, she wasn't very powerful in her actions, but she worked very hard to hit every beat and be as charismatic as she could. She began to love dancing and the way it made her feel so strong, elegant, and beautiful.

And then Dahyun learned that her favorite dancer was having to return to her company's headquarters. She knew that it was a bad thing that their company's ambitious dream of expanding throughout East Asia in smaller, more personal groups was already failing, but she found herself excited as well. Because she was going to meet Momo, her idol.

Dahyun was reflecting on how amazing it was that she was training in the same building as the already debuted soloist when she got to meet her for the first time.

"Excuse me," asked a familiar but not instantly recognizable voice from behind where Dahyun sat, stretching her sore leg muscles.

Dahyun turned around with a welcoming smile, expecting it to be one of the new foreign trainees wondering where the bathroom was or something.

Instead, her eyes widened and the friendly smile dropped into an expression of surprise. "Momo?" she gasped. Although she understood and had even thought about how she would run into Momo one day or another, she hadn't really expected it to happen this soon.

Momo smiled hesitantly. "Hello," she said with a small smile. "I am new here, and I don't know people's names, so I am trying to learn them. Who are you?"

A burst of happiness at Momo's shy words filled Dahyun, and a genuine, bright smile spread across her face. "I'm Kim Dahyun. Some of my friends call me Dubu, if that's a bit easier to remember. I'm really happy to meet you. You're the reason that I've found so much enjoyment in dancing."

"Really?" The surprise in Momo's voice was fragile and soft, and under her words was an undeniable current of emotion. Dahyun was reminded of what Momo had been through-- what every idol went through to have even a chance at success. And Dahyun understood that Momo specifically was critiqued and ridiculed for her abilities and mocked for her focus being dance, not singing or rapping. Momo had to know about that, and it had to hurt her.

"Yes," answered Dahyun, slowing standing up while maintaining eye contact. "I think you are one of the best dancers I have ever seen, and I cannot believe you are standing right in front of me."

Momo smiled, and her eyes shone with the emotion of it. "Thank you, Dubu."

Dahyun nodded in response. "Of course," she managed to answer. The moment Momo had departed out of sight, she ran down to Chaeyoung, overwhelmed by the girl she'd just spoken to.

a/n: this chapter was bit messy, and a bit filler-ish, but it's some dahmo just for fun :D who do you ship momo with? i ship her with whoever, she has a very compatible personality!