(Every character depicted in the story below is a consenting legal adult over the age of 18)

A/N: Jinu’s first fan signing~

-x-X-x-

“Are you sure about this Jinu? We can still cancel the event if we need to, just say the word.”

Rumi can’t help but smile at Bobby’s concerned tone of voice. To his credit, the manager had rather quickly picked up on the vibes back when he’d first announced this fan signing to all of them a few days back. He’d recognized that Jinu was uncomfortable almost immediately and had been offering to cancel it ever since.

But Jinu knew this was something that idols were expected to do, even if he only knew that because of the HUNTR/X Fan Signing that he crashed with the Saja Boys in the other timeline.

And ultimately, he also knew how it would reflect on all of them if they set up an event only to turn around and cancel it right away. After all, he’d seen how their cancelled live performance had worked against them to great effect in the other timeline as well.

Now here they all are, three days later, and Jinu just smiles easily and shakes his head.

“It’s way too late to cancel at this point Bobby. But don’t worry, I’m fine. More than fine, I’m looking forward to connecting with some of my fans. It’s good, right?”

He throws her and the girls a look at those last words, and Rumi nods right alongside with Mira and Zoey. Jinu just smirks, hands in his pocket all casual-like. He’s wearing his attire from the Soda Pop video instead of the Your Idol video, mostly because nobody would expect him to get into that much ‘heavy makeup’ and a full-blown ‘costume’ like that for a simple fan signing. Never mind that it was neither a costume nor heavy makeup…

Of course, Rumi knows better. Jinu might be the picture of composure right now; all calm and collected… but she’s seen him like this before and also knows how big of a dork he is. He’s putting on an act right now… but in the end its one that Bobby buys hook, line, and sinker.

“Oh thank god, that’s a relief. And yeah, it’s really good, nothing better than connecting with fans! Alright, let’s get you at the table and set up and we can start bringing people in. You know, some of them spent all night sleeping on the sidewalk just to see you!”

Jinu shoots Rumi a bemused look at that, one Rumi returns with a helpless shrug. Because yeah, the last time around it had been the Saja Boys who were outside the venue in sleeping bags all night long just to be able to pull off their ambush.

And while it WOULD have been funny if Rumi, Mira, and Zoey could pull off the same thing, she doubted they could hide their true identities from everyone else in the line that easily. Especially when one of Mira’s most memed moments involved her wearing a sleeping bag to the met gala.

Besides, they were all back here anyways and Jinu knew they were here, so surprising/ambushing him like that was right out.

Instead, they creep up to the backstage curtain and peer out into the auditorium beyond as Bobby guides Jinu over to a table that’s already been set out for him. Two stacks of posters, one for Soda Pop and the other for Your idol, are arranged and ready to be signed there.

“Jinu’s first fan signing. This is going to be so cute!”

Rumi can’t help but smile at Zoey’s exuberance. Unfortunately, Mira is there to throw some cold reality in their faces.

“Yeah, or a total disaster. You know the first fan signing is where fans see just how much they can get away with…”

Zoey pouts, while Rumi winces. Still…

“That’s why we doubled the security. And on top of that, Jinu is literally an immortal, unkillable demon. He’s going to be fine.”

Mira just shrugs as Zoey nods rapidly in agreement. Then, Bobby calls out and tells the staff to open the doors and let in the fans. A moment later and a flood of people are coming in, with the security already proving necessary as they force things into an orderly line.

“Single file everyone! Single file! If you all can’t behave, we’ll have to cancel the fan signing and I’m sure you don’t want that!”

Funnily enough, Bobby’s words probably have more of an effect on Jinu’s rabid fans than the big, musclebound security guys corralling them. Nobody wants to be the reason the event has to end early, after all. Not without getting their lump of flesh from the idol they’re there for, at least.

Though, Rumi does note that not everyone is just a Jinu fan. She actually sees plenty of their merch amidst the crowd, making it clear a lot of people are also fans of HUNTR/X music as well. You never really got used to seeing your own face on someone else’s chest, or at least she didn’t. At least most of the time it’s all three of them together, posing or something.

“Oh wow look, I even see some Sunlight Sisters Merch out there!”

Rumi blinks, peering in the direction Zoey is surreptitiously pointing out through the curtain. Sure enough, the younger hunter is right. There’s a handful of Sunlight Sisters T-Shirts and Hats spread throughout the crowd.

Some of them even look vintage, while some of them look relatively new. To be fair, Sunlight Entertainment did still sell merch from that era, just in far less quantities these days. The reveal of a familial connection between Jinu and Celine must have caused a bit of a resurgence though.

A few seconds later, the first fans begin to reach Jinu at his table. Rumi watches carefully, but Jinu is all smiles and they’re all stuttering messes. The worst is a particularly high pitched ‘eeeeeee’ from one girl as she gets her signed poster back from him, looking like she’s doing an admirable impression of a human tea kettle. Rumi swears she sees actual steam coming out of the poor thing’s ears.

Regardless, she eventually shuffles off and is replaced by someone else. All in all, it’s going really well. So well in fact, that Rumi starts to relax. Maybe that’s why she doesn’t see it coming. But then, to be fair, nobody else seems to notice until it’s too late either.

“I’d get down on my knees for you any day, Jinu! PLEASE SIGN MY TITS!”

The young woman in question doesn’t look like a crazy at first glance… but when she finally reaches the front of the line and makes her way up to the table, she shows her true colors. Its not the crass promise that takes it over the line though, even if it is incredibly inappropriate.

No, what takes it over the line is when she grabs her top and bra and yanks both up to her neck, exposing her chest and leaning over the table in Jinu’s direction while shouting that last bit at the top of her lungs.

To Jinu’s credit, he immediately leans back in his chair as far as he can. As well, his eyes go everywhere but the woman’s chest as he cringes at her lewd actions. And to the security’s credit, they don’t hesitate. Three of the security guards grab the woman in moments, forcing her shirt back down over her chest and gently but firmly escorting her away.

“Wait! No! I-I want a signed poster at least!”

But of course, they don’t listen to her. They can’t listen to her. You give fans like that an inch, they and everyone else will take a mile. She’ll have two choices, either give them her personal information so she can be blacklisted from all future Sunlight Entertainment events… or wait for them to hand her over to the cops so they can arrest her for her criminal activity. At which point, the cops will give security her personal information anyways so she can be blacklisted from all future events.

Meanwhile, silence has fallen over the auditorium as the rest of the security holds everyone else at bay while Bobby rushes over to Jinu to talk to him in whispered tones. Rumi can tell that everyone is holding their breath to see if the rest of the event will be cancelled or not. But in the end, Jinu shakes his head to Bobby and Bobby sighs before straightening up.

“The event will go on! Another incident like that though and we’ll have to stop, I’m afraid. Everyone please be on your best behavior.”

It’s funny. If it were Rumi out there at that table, she probably would have done the same thing Jinu did and told Bobby they could keep going. But being on the other side of things, on the outside looking in… she hated it. She hated that Jinu was forced to just continue on even when she could tell that the experience had shaken him at least a little bit.

She-

“Hey.”

Blinking, Rumi looks over to see Mira has a hand on her arm.

“You’re shaking, Rumi.”

Rumi blushes and ducks her head. The apology is on the tip of her tongue when Mira cuts her off before she can say it.

“Let’s go out there. Back him up.”

Her eyes widen, even as Zoey grins and nods energetically in agreement. Rumi opens her mouth… and then closes it as she realizes that’s exactly what she wants to do too. And if her girls have her back… then why not?

A moment later and they’re all stepping out from backstage, Rumi in the lead with Mira and Zoey behind her. There’s a certain walk they’ve done a million times at this point, the sort of walk that they use to convey a certain sense of invincibility when in public. Rumi first with all the swagger in the world, Zoey on her left with a literal hop to her steps, and Mira on her right with eyes that promise murder to anyone who gets in their way.

The auditorium falls quiet again as HUNTR/X approaches the table, with Bobby noticing them before Jinu and quickly arranging for three more chairs to be brought out. Jinu startles when they arrive and Rumi places a hand on his shoulder, looking up in surprise… but also concealed relief that Rumi is sure only she can see.

Grinning at the crowd (but really baring her teeth) Rumi doesn’t mince words.

“Hey everyone. We just thought we’d stop by to give our hoobae some support at his first ever fan signing.”

Zoey, bouncing up and down on her feet, giggles in her usual manner.

“We’ll sign anything that you have him sign first, sound good?”

And finally Mira, with her arms crossed over her chest, just lifts an eyebrow as she scans the crowd, intimidating as ever.

“Hope you guys haven’t given him any trouble so far. And aren’t planning to give him any trouble going forward.”

Most of the crowd shrinks back at that, well aware of Mira’s reputation. Only a scant few look like they would be happy to have Mira beat them up… but even they’re smart enough to know she wouldn’t be doing the beating anyways, it would be the security. And it wouldn’t be a beating, but merely an escort off the premises and a permanent ban from all future events.

In the end, Rumi, Zoey, and Mira take their seats next to Jinu and slowly but surely the fans are allowed to trickle forward again one by one. Soon enough, everything is going smoothly once more.

People go to Jinu first, having cute moments about how much they love dancing to Soda Pop or how visceral and real Your Idol felt. And then they either leave or they continue on down the line to get Rumi, Zoey, and Mira’s signatures as well.

There will probably be some comments online of course. Some people will claim that Jinu needed HUNTR/X to support him at his very first fan signing like some sort of baby. Others will claim that HUNTR/X crashed his fan signing and stole the spotlight because they were jealous of his success or something.

Rumi has long since learned to tune those people out though. Frankly, the scarier ones will be the shippers. They’ve been relatively quiet in recent weeks, but she’s well aware that there are still at least a few people in niche online communities shipping her and her girls with Jinu.

Rujinu was already out there, just like last time. But because there were no other Saja Boys, the fans had also come up with Zojinu and Mirjinu to boot. At least it was all relatively uniform, Rumi supposed…

Still, this would only add fuel to what had been a relatively small fire so far in this timeline. Rumi could already see some fans sneaking pics with their smartphones of her and Jinu side by side together. Those pics would be featured in fan cams by the end of the day, if not the end of the hour.

Ultimately though, she puts it out of her mind and lets herself get into the rhythm. There’s a groove to these sorts of events. Rumi hesitates to call it ‘fake’ or anything like that, but she definitely has an ‘attitude’ that she puts on. Smiling, inviting, eager to meet… but also badass, in control, and all around untouchable.

Some fans decked out in HUNTR/X merch try to skip Jinu now and again now that Rumi and her girls are on offer instead, but Rumi stops them with a polite smile and a shake of her head, holding up a firm hand that cuts them off and sends them back to Jinu in embarrassment.

Jinu, in response, is the perfect gentleman, accepting these fans back with grace, signing their posters and shirts and other merch and sending them back to Rumi without so much as a word about their bad behavior. She hears the murmurs start up as a result of his behavior. ‘So hot… and respectful’ is thrown around again, just like last time. This time though, it’s not all part of an act to destroy her and her girls.

The past is in the past and Rumi is more than willing to let it stay there. That old timeline is behind them now and all they have left is a nice, bright future to share with each-!

“Excuse me, Mister Jinu?”

Rumi freezes and at her side, Jinu does the exact same thing. Both of them look down slowly to see a familiar face on the other side of the table… barely visible over the table’s edge. The girl holds out a piece of paper in her small hands, lifting it up for Jinu to take.

“I made this for you.”

It’s the same picture as last time, hand drawn and making Jinu out to be an angel complete with wings and a halo. And of course, written out across the top of the picture…

Jinu, you have a beautiful soul

Zoey leans over and looks at it only to ‘awwww’ in response.

“That’s so cute! What’s your name, little one?”

Bashfully, the girl answers her. Unlike last time, they don’t end the fan signing there or anything like that. Instead, they all make sure to sign not just a poster but also a bunch of other merch that Bobby brings out from backstage to load the little girl up with, until sending her back to her grateful mother with the biggest smile on her face.

The fan signing continues for a few more hours after that, but in the end, that’s the defining moment of the event for the four of them. And even if everyone else online only wants to talk about the sasaeng fan from near the beginning who almost ruined the whole event, it’s the little girl’s fanart that gets a place of honor on the fridge in Jinu’s apartment. Where it will undoubtedly remain for quite some time.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Hehe, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Had to still have the beautiful soul moment, of course~

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