Work Text:
In a little corner café, you're stirring your drink in front of you, breathing slowly in and out of your nose. You check your watch and pull out your planner. You flip through your small book and find today's date, grazing your finger over the page.
"Meeting with Jellyfish Ent. For Ravi album ", You read in your scrawled handwriting.
You tap your fingertips on top of the table and glance at the entrance. You pull out your phone and press on the messaging application. You inspect the display photo of Ravi's manager, plain, dark hair, eye bags, and a flat nose.
"We're five minutes away, (Y/N)-ssi.", His text read from three minutes ago.
You click on one of your social media applications and search, "Ravi". His profile quickly appears. You sift through his photos and tap on a selfie. You take note of his features, his oval-shaped face, his elegant profile, and his expressive eyes. You blink twice when you scroll upon a shirtless selfie of Ravi by a pool. You clear your throat and dart your eyes side-to-side.
"(Y/N)-ssi?"
You look up and see a slightly-older man, instantly recognizing him as Ravi's manager. You stand up and bow.
"Ah, nice to meet you, Manager-ssi!"
When you stand up, you see a man move out from behind the manager. You stare for a second and realize it's Ravi himself, looking dressed to the nines.
"Good afternoon, (Y/N)-ssi, I'm Ravi.", He removes his sunglasses and bows. He gives you a small smile and you bow back immediately.
"Nice to meet you, Ravi-ssi." You look down, avoiding his gaze, but find yourself still looking at him, shirtless.
You grab your phone and clutch it close to your chest. The manager pulls out a chair for Ravi and Ravi is still smiling innocently at you. You laugh nervously and sit.
"I apologize, I did not know that Ravi-ssi would be joining us!"
"No, I should have informed you first. His schedule cleared up today and he insisted on coming along."
"I hope I'm not imposing, (Y/N)-ssi. I was thinking it'd be easier if I spoke directly with you!", He looks excited.
"Of course, it's no problem! I just haven't really met idols so much yet for work!", You stammer.
His manager asks, "Any drinks, Ravi, (Y/N)-ssi?"
"Just cold brew please, thank you!", Ravi says.
"No, thank you!" You point towards your unfinished drink.
His manager leaves the two of you alone to order. You shut down the social media app, praying no one saw.
Ravi leans back on his seat and plays around with his sunglasses.
"So, (Y/N)-ssi", He smoothly moves forward and plops his arms on the table. "I thought that the cover you did for Zico was super cool!"
His eyes were wide. You take a glimpse and you could swear they were sparkling.
"Ah, thank you, Ravi-ssi! That's actually my favorite work." You don't remember the last time someone's acknowledged your work and you feel a sense of pride swelling in your body. His enthusiasm is infectious.
"Um…so I already made a couple of rough sketches," You reach into your bag and pull out a tablet, "I got the brief from your manager of what you had an idea of and some of the images I could use so I put something together."
You pull up the gallery and hand him the tablet. He takes it gingerly and looks at each image for a minute before swiping to the next. You slowly gulp your drink, while watching Ravi inspect your work.
His manager returns with one Americano and one cold brew. He places the cold brew down in front of Ravi and sits. "Are those the rough sketches?"
"Yes," Ravi says before you could reply and hands to his manager your tablet for him to review. Ravi drinks his coffee, leans back, and rubs his chin.
Your mind goes into overdrive, Did he not like it? What's wrong with them? Are none of them good? But you notice something. You notice Ravi stifling a smile.
"These are nice, super modern, like pop art?", His manager says as he looks.
"Right? I think the one with the small text and bright backgrounds are the coolest ones! It's like a nineties' feel." Ravi can't hold back his excitement and bounces in his place. He swipes through the images again and points at a cover.
"This one!" You've never seen someone so open about your work and you can't help but grin. Your worries about the awkward start disappear when you and Ravi exchange more ideas between each other for the album, finding that he had a clear idea of what he wanted and you easily understood the aesthetic he was going for.
You wrap up the meeting with a finalized design that everyone was happy with. Ravi holds the door open for you when you step out of the café.
"Ah, (Y/N)-ssi, you're amazing! How are you so good at this? Could you teach me?" Ravi seems very pleased.
You tease, "If I teach you, you might not hire me again and one of my dreams is to work for VIXX!"
"I'll hire you for VIXX!" He exclaims and the both of you laugh.
Their van arrives and before stepping into the van, his manager bows to you. "I'll be expecting your email soon, (Y/N)-ssi. Thank you for your work." You bow towards him in thanks.
"Ah, e-mail, so no need for more meetings soon, I guess." He looks down and kicks a pebble around in his place.
"I do have to finish designing your album, Ravi-ssi." You begin already making a mental checklist of your work.
"Well, how about after? Would you be free after?"
"What do you mean free?"
"Um…like free to meet up with me?"
You take a minute.
"Okay, it's a date.", You answer.
Ravi looks up and his cheeks are surprisingly pink. You thought you were the only one.
You're standing in front of a monitor, beside Ravi's manager, as well as the rest of VIXX's managers. You've been watching Ravi and VIXX embarrassing themselves by playing mini games together for the past hour and it's about time to finish shooting.
All the members shuffle into a line and Ravi is holding up their latest album. N begins promoting with his typical leader-like manner.
"Please buy our album, coming out tomorrow!" The whole group bows and claps. N turns to Ravi.
"We also put a lot of thought into our songs and the album itself so it's both a pleasure for the ears and eyes!" Ravi pushes his arm forward, proudly displaying the bold album cover. With his other hand, he makes a small heart and winks directly at the camera.
You sigh and shake your head. You look at him and your work and feel love for both.