#stories.sweetlikecandy

[lgcmilan]

EVENT: DATE LOTTERY Q2 2024 POST TYPE: STARTER FOR @lgcbaekhyun TITLE: SWEET LIKE CANDY

crying, shaking, throwing up? yes, that's been milan since learning that she'd participate in date lottery. lesson learned; never put a second choice that you don't want because life has a way, especially when you're only a joke to it. just six month ago, she would've been ecstatic taking part in this show, but she's not the same as six months ago. she was so much younger back then, so much brighter. how she envies the milan of six months ago. but time has ticked and events have happened, words have been said and actions have been taken. she doesn't feel like forever 19 anymore, and her heart and mind feel closer to 60 than her real age. perhaps it's only because she's 21 that she can think like that, but her current state isn't how she thinks a 21 years old should feel.

however, this doesn't matter to legacy, nor should it have an impact on her work. yes, this is part of her job and has nothing to do with her personal life. by dissociating the event from her private life, she had managed to dispell the negative feelings and turn this so called date in a once in a lifetime event. her first and (very likely) last date ever. a chance to live out her fantasy in a safe setting, with safe parameters and then cross her heart, men and romance forever.

the idea of having a picnic by the han river comes from hours of daydream, of picturing herself brushing softly one's hair, of crowning his head with a wreath of flower, of legs tangled and fingers of intertwined, of locked gazes only disrupted by eyelid flutters and lips dancing together.

and so, on a sunny day of may, she arrives near the area picked for filming today. she looks all the part of the perfect date with her white skirt and blue top, a wicker picnic basket under her arm.

considering there's only one small filming crew in the area, her destination is easy to find. she bows to the staff, though it's easy to see that she's a little nervous from her body language. "am i early?" she wonders, only to be given a camera as answer. the producer explains that this object is a hint to find her partner and milan raises an eyebrow. "hmm, there are quite a lot of people interested in photography in the company..." she comments, turning the camera around and checking each angle as if the answer would jump out in her face. "but that makes me think that it must be someone artistic, with a good sense of observation." she continues, starting to walk further towards the river. "maybe even romantic?" she chuckles. "like in those american college dramas where the man studies photography and suddenly notices a pretty girl!" she explains further.

the young woman raises the camera to her eye, deciding to check through the lense, maybe be the one to find the pretty boy instead.

[lgcmilan]

it's no secret that milan wasn't cast by legacy for her amazing stage talents since she had none when she joined the company. she's also quite skeptical that her visuals have anything to do with it, when there are people line nabi, miyu and nayoung around. no, she's quite average when it comes to looks. no, what got her in was her personality and she's taken on fulfilling the role of variety persona in her group quite seriously. it does help that she adores the concept of variety shows; getting paid to have fun? dream job. and that's why once the worry of being paired with someone she'd have no chemistry with melts away, she manages to take to the premise of the show like a fish in water. minus the flirting of course. to put it nicely; it's not a skill she's gotten much work out in.

seeing baekhyun laugh wholeheartedly makes the girl beam. another thing about variety is that it scratches her itch to make people around her joyous. making the type zero vocalist laugh like this feels her with a sense of accomplishment. milan bows from the waist in mock formality; "thank you, dearest guest" she replies to his promise to give her his best reaction. yes, variety is where she shines.

but baekhyun cannot be outdone himself and if he might take to variety with less ease, he has mastered the art of charm and, therefore, destabilizing her. now a little more comfortable, she can't help but release a soft "kyah!" before hiding her face behind her fingers, eyes peaking between her fingers at him, ears taking a more violent shade of red than ever. "no~" she denies his allegations of being endearing with the most aegyo filled no to exist. "i'm just... a silly goose!" she chuckles, half tempted to 'qwack' to dispell the fluttering of heart he's elliciting inside her. instead, she takes the conversation towards a different direction and confesses: "i've been a type zero fan for a long time, so i think i speak for all your fans right now. trust me." hands falling away from her face, she smiles.

as baekhyun talks about his worries, milan hums and aggrees with him as he goes on. "that's exactly how i was feeling!" the young woman tells him. "picture being paired with someone you are super close with and having to show a romantic side of yours?" she rubs her arms as if getting goosebumps just thinking about the scenario. her mind does drift to one person in particular and she wonders just what levels of awkward the two of them would reach if they ended up on a show like this together. probably would be the catalyst to a second friendpocalypse. "yep, nope!" she says out loud, clearly liking the idea less and less.

she giggles when he plays along with her, clearly happy that her partner isn't turned off by her nonsense. "i love this!" she exclaims when he decides on what to toast to, and after clinking her cup to his, she takes a long sip of her drink, eyes closing to enjoy the taste. definitely a drink made for her very own tastebuds.

"okay, now, onto serious things." he gestures towards the food. "the taste test! remember what i said earlier!" cheekily, she pokes her tongue out a little.

It makes sense. Milan actually has more experience at this than Baek if they are being logical about it, with Baek’s recent addition to the variety world that he knew very little about. At Milan’s retort, though, Baek couldn’t help but throw his head back as he freely laughed at her mischievous tone and clever words, “Don’t worry, I’ll give you my best reactions,” he promises her a wink and a shake of his head.

With how nervous Milan has looked since they met, Baek didn’t really expected her to bring out bold statements and compliments. He really shouldn’t have underestimated how good she was at this being an idol thing for getting herself together so quickly. When she talks about his smile and brings out her point of view on the matter, Baek simply tilts his head to the side and smiles softly, “you’re incredibly endearing, Milan,” and it’s the most honest thing he might have said in the last five minutes.

“I’m glad we were paired up with you, too. I honestly thought it would be weird either way. If I met someone I already knew, it would feel awkward to be on a date with them, or if I met someone I’ve never met before, it would be even worse, but you’re presence is very comforting,” he gets tired of being useless, and helps Milan with the last of the dishes and places them somehow closer to her, so she wouldn’t have too much work to get to the food she prepared. “It’s an amazing trait to have,” he completes.

Baek eyes progressively grew bigger and bigger the longer that Milan went on about trees and toasts and shades and fairies, and he’s certain his smile followed a similar pattern until he raised his glass, shaking his head, “to trees, for giving us all nice things.” When she turned the question to him, though, he took a bit before coming up with something, “to our unexpected meeting, and to many more others going ahead.”

[lgcmilan]

milan quickly shakes her head and a hand in front of her. "not at all, i just got here myself." she reassures him with a bright smile.

the revelation that he plans on taking pictures on this day makes her coo right away. "this is such a good idea!" she comments, enthused by his idea. although she was the one tasked to prepare this date, the fact that he also came with stuff of his own for this date puts her a little more at ease with what's to come.

she giggles at his following words at it takes her everything to not cover her face once again. the man is unexpectedly charming and she's deplorably inexperienced. the rookie idol would've been able to answer him with something more witty, but instead declares with a nod: "then our first mission is a success!"

"oh! right!" she exclaims when he continues speaking. she shifts the basket from the inside of he elbow back to he hand and pats the top of it with her hand. "yes! please follow me this way." she makes a grand gesture towards their right to a more secluded part of the park. she had picked this place days ago, and today, the area has been cleared by the crew to a certain degree for the two of them. from the greenery to the the view of the han river, it's a perfect place to enjoy a cozy and relaxed afternoon. "i hope you didn't eat before coming! i've prepared eveything myself!" she tells him as they reach their spot.

having found their intended filming spot for the day, milan opens one side of the basket to grab the blanket, but before laying it down, she gazes up towards the sun then turns to her partner. "where do you think would be best for you pictures?" she asks him

‘She’s adorable’ it’s the first thing that pops into Baek’s head as soon as he sees how Milan’s eyes go wide and her hands tremble and while he’s worried about her dropping his (unfortunately) very expensive camera, there’s no real part of him that actually believes that’s a thing that would happen (she’s holding it with her two hands after all). Even though he has been part of Type Zero for a little while now, he doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to people’s reaction to him.

He approaches her on what he expects it’s a normal speed, but as soon as he sees Milan bowing at him, he feels himself quickening his pace and reaching out to stop her from being so polite even if to no avail. It’s sweet, but he’s pretty sure she debuted before him even if his group is older. At least he’s older. “It’s very nice to meet you too,” he replies, “I hope I didn’t make you wait long,” because yes, while this is all planned, he was the one arriving late. He can at least acknowledge her time waiting.

“I’m hoping to take many beautiful pictures today. Thank you for taking good care of it,” he says smiling as he points at his camera in her hands. He chuckles at her question and nods his head, “I got the impression my partner would be someone cute and bright, so I think your hint was just perfect. It led me the right way.” Baek suddenly hopes this is not all too much. Not for the cameras because he’s hopeful that the producers will eat this up, but for Milan. So, he suggests, “should we sit? You picked our date, right? What would you like to do?”

[lgcmilan]

it's a relief that baekhyun plays along and it's apparant on milan's face that she feels that way. what if he had retorted something like 'let's get through this one first before talking about another date'? the young woman is fairly convinced she would've died on the spot. right after asking the filming crew to cut this out of the final broadcast, of course. but thankfully, her partner has avoided her the embarrassement, and as he goes on to say about the food; that's just her overthinking. his correct assessement of the situation doesn't help with the red of her face of course. since when has she become so worried over anything and everything? she used to bumble her way through life without a worry or a care for 20 years of her life. and then future dreams happened. she's had enough therapy sessions to know that this was just her triggering point and already had underlying issues just waiting to creep up on her.

"is it that obvious?" the nova member asks with a large smile while putting aside the unwelcomed thoughts. "it's part of our job to give reaction to food and eat as much as we can since we're on tv, even when the food is so-so" she explains with a knowing expression on her face. while milan hasn't been on a proper eating show, she's ended up having to eat and showing reaction to the cameras more than once in her - so far - short career. "i didn't want neither of us to have to do that today! but also, now that i've said that, you have no choice but to give a good reaction no matter how it tastes!" she finishes on a mischevious tone.

when her date brings up the comments on his expressions, milan nods knowingly; she might not follow type zero as much since nathan and daeho have left, but she still follows them enough to understand what he means. not that she agrees with it. its obvious from the slight lip purse when he mentions being told to smile more. thouh the conclusion to this moves her. "personally, i think your more serious demeanor is part of what makes you stand out in your group. it makes your smiles more precious." she tells him genuinely. "makes me feel rather lucky and good right now." she hopes that he views these words are encouraging, because she means them.

she cant help but clap when he declares that the date is great so far, clearly proud of herself. "same! it was totally worth it! i'm already glad we got paired up!" milan declares while placing the final items on the blanket. she finishes right as he mentions her age and she nods, both surprised and happy that he knows about it. "that's correct."

sitting down with her legs on the side like a mermaid, she looks around for inspiration. "hmm... i wanna toast to..." well, baekhyun is about to learn why she's never ask to give toast. "trees! they give us a beautiful view today and some nice shade from the sun too. but above all, they are also loved by both photograpers and fairies. they are like destiny!" milan beams at her own nonsense. no wonder no one in their right mind would take her on a date. "your turn! what do you want us to toast to?" she raises her cup too

Unsurprisingly, Baek’s first instinct is to keep smiling at Milan, and when she blurts out something as bold as implying “let’s go on another date some other time,” in front of an entire camera crew for a wide audience, he must admit that she’s genuinely very charming. “I’ll take you up on that, then, Milan. I’ll make sure to plan something that will take your breath away,” he says in a tone of promise.

“I’m not hard to please,” which is objectively a lie. He’s a picky eater and has always been (though, he got better as he grew older. And when you’re in the army, being picky about food is just useless), but from a first glance, he doesn’t think he’ll have to pretend to like what Milan brought. They all look delicious. “Remind me to thank your members the next time we meet, though I’m sure they must have been good from the start. You were just overthinking it, weren’t you?”

Baek, admittedly, isn’t the most tunned person in LGC. He now knows his members, and there are a few trainees he’s close to, but despite being around in the company for quite some time, he’s not one that took much interest in people’s information besides if they were better than him or not. He thinks about asking her where she lived before coming to Seoul, but come to think about it, that wouldn’t be a good look on him, right? Too indifferent to other people to know that beforehand. So, he tries something else, “I’m told that I should smile more often because I have a serious face, but I didn’t stop smiling since coming here, so we’re both learning new things about ourselves.” Baek has the urge to pat her in the head, maybe because she still a little red from before, or because he's thanking him for something completely out of his control, but he keeps his hands to himself, and smiles warmly at her, “It’s a great first date so far. Thank you for putting so much effort into it.”

Baek wasn’t kidding when he said he didn’t eat anything before coming, and maybe it’s because of the smell of the mangoes or the coconut sauce that makes him feel himself salivating. Suddenly, he realizes how hungry he actually is. “This much I know. You turned 22 recently, didn’t you? I saw the posts on social media,” it’s hard to miss the celebration fans make for their favorite idols, and Baek certainly stumbled over a few. He takes one of cups Milan offers him and raises it, “What should we toast for? Since this is your first date, is there anything you want to remember this by?”

[lgcmilan]

"please don't! i was the one in charge of organizing the date!" milan tells her partner on a reassuring tone. she hesitates a second before adding: "next time, you can be the one surprising me." usually quite uncaring about what she says, even on variety shows, she's quick to look away from the other idol after speaking this words. was this too cringe? she can feel her ears reddening. oh god, what even is flirting.

thankfully, she can quickly latch on another topic. "that's perfect! hopefully something is to your liking." the young woman says. "and to be completely honest, i did have minseo and mitzi taste test to make sure that it's edible!" she adds with a chuckle. that's not complete honesty because on top of that, she did run the menu by her mother and mitzi first before finalizing it and maybe overfed the poor minseo while in seeking the perfect seasoning balance. details.

if milan's ears were red already, now it's her whole face that has taken a soft shade of red. and since shes barely wearing any make up, it's quite apparant. "w-what?" she stumbles on the word, her satori surfacing. his words aren't unpleasant, but they took her by surprised. "i m-mean." more fumbling and satori, this time with the blanket. she's grateful for his help in that moment, though she barely dares looking up. 'gotta keep the ball rolling, milan' she tells herself. and finally laughs and shakes her head. "sorry, i was surprised! usually, i'm told that i'm good friend material only." she says this lightly for the cameras, though in truth, she's come to hate hearing these words, yet they keep coming. "if it's not obvious yet, this is my first date." she admits and finally dares looking up at him again, a soft smile on her lips. "that's why i thought i'd organize a date i've always wanted to try once! thanks for giving me this chance!"

after this she instructs him to take the plates and cutlery out while she unwraps and plates the food that she's prepared for the day; a mango salsa to eat with tortilla chips, four avocado summer rolls and six caprese sandwhiches. meanwhile, her manager stealthily gives her two large cups containing some type of smoothie. "it was my birthday recently, so my birthday drink is still on the lgc cafe menu. and it's perfect in this type of weather" she explains, shamelessly promoting the place and her drink. "one cocopeach for you, and one for me." she says while handing him his cup. "a toast?" she suggests.

It has been years since the last time he properly went on a date now that he thinks about it. He wasn’t someone who dated a lot when he wasn’t a trainee, though he had a couple of partners during high school. Even when he served his mandatory military service, he still somehow managed to find time to go out to date but being a trainee and now an idol have limited his attention quite a bit. It’s a little sad.

Flirting is nice, but investing in a relationship feels time consuming, and he can’t afford that. Which is why going out with Milan like this feels so nice and somehow natural despite the crew and cameras and microphones. He gives her cues, and she gets them and vice versa, which is better than some other real dates he has had in the past.

He follows her to their designated area, and he’s glad they are filming because he imagines this place would be packed with couples and friend groups at this time. His eyes go wide and his mouth forms a perfect ‘o’, “Did you really? Now I feel terribly underprepared,” which is true, even though Baek would be uncapable of delivering anything that tasted remotely good enough for a date. He also realizes he doesn’t know many places with date food. Most of his delivery restaurants are for barbecue and jajamyeon. “But yes, I’m really hungry. I couldn’t eat anything before coming because I was a bit nervous, but now I feel like I could eat something delicious.”

Baek should help her, he knows, and he will, but before that he brings his camera up and frames what he’s seeing. Milan in her pretty outfit and the sunlight cascading just right around the area they are in. He imagines the production would like to have these later for the episode, but most importantly, it’s a beautiful shot. “Have you ever been told your perfect girlfriend material?” He puts down his camera. It’s true. It’s also a bold statement for a variety show, maybe, but it’s true. “Here is perfect but let me help you with this. You’ve already done so much.”

[lgcmilan]

naturally, milan did wonder who her partner would be and mostly, how would she react. she suspected right away that she wouldn't be paired with any of her friends considering only few of them have debuted and even less would sign up for something like this. a good thing in her opinion. how can she pretend this is her chance of a single proper date in her life if it's with any of the clowns she usually hangs out. as for the reaction... she never worried about looking disappointed but about how she should act.

in the end, she shouldn't have worried about any of that. as soon as baekhyun's face enters her line of sight and his words hit her ears, she yelps while taking a step back. it's a good thing that she's holding onto the precious camera with two hands, because she might have dropped it at that very moment. she does let go of it with one hand to bring it to her mouth, eyes wide. "type zero!" she exclaims on an octave higher than the tone she's used to speak with. she glances around, as if to be sure that this is real, then walks away from him to let out a soft "kyaaah" before coming back, hand still on her mouth.

if her current reaction seems extra, there's a time when she would've simply fainted in front of the members of the group. her intensity as a fangirl might have dialed down a lot, type zero is still her favorite male boygroup.

finally, she bows at 90 degrees in front of the man, hand still covering her mouth. "i'm sorry. i mean... nice to meet you in person, baekhyun-ssi." she says. when she straightens up, her eyes are still wide, showing clear admiration. "pull yourself together" she mumbles to herself, hand moving from her mouth to pat gently her cheek. this isn't a fanmeeting but a date. she takes a deep breath and lets it out softly.

what to do now? how to bring this back to the reason why they are here. ah! right. she raises his camera to hand it back to him. "i didn't know you were into photography, but now i feel foolish since it really fits you." she comments with a smile. "did my hint help a bit?"

It’s not like Baek didn’t want to be part of the dating lottery. It was his first pick, after all, and he has enough confidence to pull of a date with someone, regardless of whom they might be. It’ll also help him build his image now that he has debuted, and even though he has grown to appreciate Type Zero, it’s not like they are the most boyfriend-themed group in LGC.

So he has come into terms with his decision, he knows he can make it a good one, knows why he’s doing it, and the weather is perfect for a date outside (which his stylists and make-up and hair people let him know at least when they were preparing) so it’s ridiculous that as he leaves the car and sees a small camera crew, his stomach starts fluttering as if he’s going on a real date.

He greets the staff as usual with a friendly smile as they hand him what he imagines is his clue to figure out who the person who’ll be stuck with him will be. He can smell the faint scent of the perfume as soon as he gets his hands on the letter, “It’s such a cute envelope,” he says out loud because it’s true, but he’s also in front of cameras, and they all need his intake. “And smells very nice, too. This person has a very good taste.” When he opens it, Baek has the urge to turn it upside down and let all the glitter out of the envelope, but he rethinks his actions before doing so because if his short career has taught him anything is that glitter never goes away, so he simply chuckles and turns it towards the camera to show it instead, “I’m convinced my partner is a fairy.” Baek doesn’t have enough knowledge about his company’s groups’ lore to elaborate further, so he stops there.

He's not wearing his glasses today, and instead has his contacts on to help him see past the staff. It doesn’t take too long for him to stop another small filming crew not far from where they are. He takes one stop before stopping and scratching the back of his neck with his free hand, “what should I do? I feel nervous suddenly,” he chuckles and recomposes himself before walking towards the other group. He sees her playing with the camera he gave the staff as his clue and on an impulse, he quickens his pace until he’s standing right in front of her line of sight. He waves and smiles, “Milan-ssi, it’s good to see you here.”