A/N: This chapter is not super long because weekly idol's episodes used to be much shorter, and it's hard to reasonably expect Love to have a lot of air time among thirteen other people. I tried to keep this as realistic as I could, including the fact that DoniConi have been known to be a bit invasive.
"Ah, my hearts pounding," Love whispered to no one in particular. Seungcheol placed a hand on her shoulder, assuring her it would be okay as they were suddenly called to enter.
They went by in their units, bowing to Doni and Coni as they went past. She stood between The8 and Hoshi, waiting to her turn to introduce herself.
"Ah—yes, hello, I'm Seventeen's hidden treasure, Love!"
"Hidden treasure?" they repeated.
"Yes, it's because I was the last member to be revealed."
They continued their introductions until Doni asked why they had so many main vocals.
"We are the vocal team," Seungkwan answered.
"Main vocal then?"
They went through listing their parts as "main," "sub," and "lead vocals." Love honestly didn't like these distinctions, seeing as they all had amazing voices and it didn't seem to make much of a difference.
He then asked about the hip hop unit who explained that they were in charge of rap before turning to her team, the performance unit.
"Who's in charge of the main performance? Sub performance?"
"We don't have titles like that," Hoshi explained, Love nodding as well.
"Perhaps The8 and I are in charge of the performance atmosphere?" Jun suddenly said, making Love blow out a puff of air in surprise.
"Performance atmosphere," she repeated with a small laugh.
"Love is in charge of 'female performance' then?" Doni joked. They were then instructed to perform "Mansae," and took their places.
As they finished up, Doni and Coni clapped for them, cheering them on. "I could see the dust fly past," Coni said.
"I feel like you would have bumped into each other while doing dances like this. Especially on a small stage."
At the same time that S Coups pointed to Seungkwan, Dino pointed to Love. She noticed and lightly smacked his arm.
"These two often do so," Seungcheol said.
"It's during the fun part though," she explained, with a small pout. "I get carried away sometimes."
"Anyways, the song is good and doing the choreo altogether makes it nice," Coni concluded.
"They say there's a performance they prepared together. They say they prepared Super Junior's 'Sorry Sorry' in Seventeen's version. Music, cue!"
Love's eyes widened as everyone rushed to their spots hurriedly. "Hurry, hurry!" The music began, and they performed their choreography.
"I've always been curious if idols practice these things separately. Like when Dino and Vernon clapped, their facial expressions," Doni commented.
Dino explained that they practice in the mirror. Doni then asked if Seungkwan practiced this as well. "I practice sexy expressions." Love cringed as he gave an example, hiding her expression against Hoshi's shoulder.
"The company chose him well," Coni said, referencing his ability to make things funny.
•
•
•
They were onto the next segment where they'd earn household items through games. They started by talking about their dorm situation, explaining that there are four rooms.
"Love rooms with the rest of you, then?" Coni asked. She nodded.
"We just leave whenever she changes clothes," Seungkwan quickly added.
The hosts asked which household item they needed most, and all simultaneously said tissues since people had been getting colds lately.
The first game was called "Seventeen's Mouth to Mouth." Love's eyes instantaneously widened, her cheeks flushing.
"Bro, what the fuck?"
Luckily, since both the vocal and performance teams had five members, one member could sit out. Without hesitation, the boys on her team told her to sit this one out. She nodded gratefully, breathing out a small sigh of relief.
The hip hop team went first. Vernon and Wonwoo had smooth transitions, but Wonwoo and Seungcheol had difficulty and stayed connected for a bit, making everyone freak out including their leader. They went smoothly for a while until the paper dropped between them, leaving their faces close with no barrier.
"Ah! I can't watch!" Love screamed, covering her eyes with her hands.
They succeeded in passing six sheets of paper.
"You guys were good at this game. Perhaps you've...played before?"
"No, no," they quickly denied through laughs. The vocal team went next, Jeonghan ushering them forward so he didn't have to go.
Although, that came with objections from the hosts, so it was ultimately Woozi who stayed back instead. Love watched with laughs and bit of discomfort, if she was being honest. She worried that they'd make her go out too since they made Jeonghan.
DK started going quickly to try and win the game, but it resulted in Seungkwan complaining that it hurt. "Aish, it's not that serious!" she called out.
They ended up passing 10 pieces, earning them first place. Love watched somewhat nervously as the boys of performance team took their places. Wonwoo, who was next to her in the top row, noticed and gently tapped her knee.
He raised an eyebrow putting up a thumbs up, silently asking if she was okay. At the same moment, Coni made a comment similar to what he'd said about Jeonghan, how it would be more interesting if one of the boys and Love switched out.
Before she could even reply with some excuse, Seungcheol, Jeonghan, Hoshi, Joshua, and Dino were saying absolutely not, Jeonghan saying something along the lines of "our treasure has to stay hidden."
Wonwoo realized that's what she'd been anxious about the whole time and glanced back at her with a small, reassuring smile. She nodded with a small thumbs up as her team began the game.
She was surprised how seriously they took it, especially Jun. "This is gonna make our team look weird," she laughed quietly as they easily passed papers. They kept playing until the time ended, revealing they'd easily beaten the other teams.
Everyone cheered from their places, only stopping when Coni suddenly appeared with a paper in his mouth, approaching Jun expectantly.
She cringed, seeing the gears turning in Jun's head before he finally did it. Doni went over next, the same thing happening though Jun seemed even more hesitant this time.
She knew the show was supposed to be fun and it was supposed to show a more natural, "weird" side of them. But sometimes it felt uncomfortable.
Brushing off the thought, she fist bumped her team as they returned to their seats. Jun got to pick the prize, and after The8 mentioned wanting shampoo, it was immediately grabbed.
"He's so whipped for you," she whispered in the older's ear. He merely smiled, as if to say "I know."
The second game was called "Seventeen's Mansae." A string was brought out, and it was explained that they had to continually raise their arms at the same time and shout "Mansae."
Her team went first, lining up and strategically placing her at the end so it wouldn't be awkward due to her height difference.
It was extremely tiring, but Hoshi was lowkey raising her arm up for her so it wasn't too bad. The vocal team went next, followed by the hip hop team. She noticed Vernon's shirt was raising and showing his abdomen and back, and ran over to hold it down, albeit carefully so as not to get hit.
They ended up being disqualified for poor coordination, so the performance team won again. Vernon turned around to face Love who had released his shirt, patting her head with a small thank you before she ran back to her seat.
The8 grabbed a towel. A towel, of all things.
The next game was a group chicken fight, and again, two members would have to sit it out. "Do you want to play?" Hoshi asked Love.
"You guys go ahead, I'm bad at this game," she assured.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I have a disadvantage because of my height."
She stood next to Woozi watching the chaos with quiet laughs, cheering for her team. The two hosts came over, each placing an arm on their shoulders.
Woozi noticed the way she shifted slightly in discomfort from the touch of a person she was not familiar with, and wrapped an arm around her waist. She turned to him in surprise, but he merely continued looking forward, his hand gently squeezing her side with reassurance.
She leaned her head on his shoulder, continuing to watch the chicken fight. Hoshi was unexpectedly knocked out, so the vocal team won.
They lined up to give closing remarks, bowing to the cameras before waving goodbye.
"Say the name, Seventeen! Thank you!"
A/N: I kinda hate this chapter because it's so hard to write for variety shows, but I hope it shows at least some of her relationships and on-camera interactions with members shortly after debut.