salutant

GYUHAO

• arthoe BFFs: they have the precious kind of relationship where they Get each other artistically. Mutual muses, mutual models. Most friendships are forged through fire, you get through life together and you end up trusting them as a friend you can rely on. Most sebongs at least have that with each other. But GyuHao has this special space where they inspire each other as artists and that is so rare to come by in life. They both have ambitions and can never sit still, aways trying to improve.


• And this is different to Woozi/Vernon for 3 reasons! (1) Mingyu's overwhelming affection and (2) Minghao's weakness for said affection and (3) the delicious way their personalities clash


• I ADORE how their relationship started with bickerbanter that was so intense it stressed everyone out (except themselves). See, Castaway fire fiasco, 'MBC is home', 'you moved the picture'. 8 really likes teasing and riling MG up as well hehe. It's fun to watch and write about.


• I'm fond of MG, especially how he's such a puppy with his love and how his energy is unending. I like 8's growth over the years, going from a shy quiet teenager to a confident adult. I like to think a younger 8 was trying to be cool but MG just wore him down until he was soft putty


• Mingyu's parents pretty much adopted Minghao ( MG's father and told 8 to rely on them since 8 is away from home ;___; 8 meets up with MG's father w/o MG, MG's father speaks chinese... etc etc)


• I like how Minghao is reserved and contemplative by nature so he can read Mingyu's moods when he gets quiet and sulky (See, neck hold + 'tan skin is still handsome' vlive). 8 is sensitive to personal slights but he's surprisingly resilient to other people's moods. I mean, he can get hurt easily if his ability/looks/pride is questioned, but he's less affected by other people like Seungkwan or Hoshi is (E.g. If someone is a annoyed, SK feels burdened. If someone is quiet and doesn't respond, Seokmin can feel neglected). But also even though MG is :[ Minghao keeps needling him


• LORD. THERE ARE SO! MANY! SMALL! MOMENTS! Which is why I want to write a manifesto so I can link everything. Off the top of my head: mingyu wearing minghao's earring, racing each other down the esclator/stairs at the airport, minghao watching mingyu eat, minghao laughing at mingyu falling on stage until he himself falls down, mingyu making a beeline for minghao after being separated for a month and then not letting go, minghao teaching mingyu chinese, minghao nagging mingyu on idol room ahhh


• for now have this small fight


• you know about the male/female gaze in art? 8's shots in the Snap Shoot had the vibe of a boyfriend gaze.


• klavier's fic Give Me a Tempest is my favourite gyuhao because of how they show Mingyu gradually wearing down Minghao's walls with his charms/cooking/unceasing eagerness to deploy acts of service (also great emotional writing and concept, Gyuhao gets married for Minghao's Visa lmao)


• puppyboi's Show it Off (Explicit btw!!) was the fic made me go /Oh/ about Mingyu and his love languages. The fic is excellently filthy but there's one (1) scene that's unbelievably tender and from then I really could Perceive Mingyu.

JUNHAO

• unfortunately my glasses are more gyuhao tinted but I will try my best <33


• my mate (andrea) already did an 8jun analysis here that is more coherent than anything I could do


• I'm so soft for chinese idols trying to make it in korea (Hangeng, Zhou Mi, EXO-M, Victoria, Jia, Fei...) and I'm so thankful Jun and Minghao have each other. When Minghao said, 'I can't imagine doing it without you', I really, Felt that. He was already so lonely and frustrated as a trainee (entering late + not speaking the language) that he cried himself to sleep at night. Imagine not having anyone at all. And predebut Jun had a habit of tucking stragglers under his wing (Samual, Joshua) so I can imagine Minghao finding a lot of solace in Jun's company (I'm not sure if he will show it though because Minghao pre-2018 was all about looking cool)


• as someone living away from home right now, I know how much comfort just hearing your native tongue is, even from strangers passing by. So. Minghao homesickness fic gimme.


• Even so I think it took a couple of years for Minghao to accept Jun's personality because they are fundamentally different, and not like GyuHan. Like, Jun was constantly testing Minghao's patience? I think Minghao explicitly said at one point he was exasperated with Jun. Circa 2019 Minghao was still pushing Jun away but more playfully and probably just for the cameras. I feel by 2020 (esp with the Adlib GoSe) he has truly embraced all of Jun's eccentricities.


• ANYWAY, compared to GyuHao, I think the 8Jun ship really came through after working together for so long and seeing each other suffer through the industry. It's a respect and trust that's forged through hard work.


• the compulsory reading for 8jun is the 180502 iQiYi Interview (the one where Jun gives Minghao a dozen compliments in 10 seconds) and CYZJ (not the whole thing bc it's a shitshow but I think there's Cuts out there which cemented 8jun in my heart). Its really the parts about 8jun as professional idols supporting each other. 8 knowing Jun's tells for when he's nervous (clutching the microphone often), Jun choosing Minghao, again and again (but supporting him when 8 wants to collab with others because he understands that 8 loves producing music/idolises Jony J), their My I Chinese Stage, the little moment when 8 opens his wallet to give Jun money to buy juice ahhHH there's a lot

+ the Fan Festival fancams (chinese ISAC) they stuck around each other a lot and you can see some playfighting

• Paradoxically the8 is very Performative in their chinese content whereas Jun feels more himself. (closes eyes) I will read into this another time


• Personally I don't think I can ever write Jun as a protag because he's so! hard to perceive and! Get! I still feel like there's layers of him hidden from the world and hgnn. And because their humours/love languages/life modes are so different, writing 9jun romantically would be difficult for me too.


• (I'm more of a 8jun as bros rather than hoes but if I had to tinhat this, it would be the two of them uncovering each other's layers, going from the cool kid + handsome devil > reserved and vulnerable + uncertainly trying fitting in > ambitious + quietly burdened > savage teaser + crazy little brother.


• ao3 user nisakomi did a great 8jun friendship in their wonhui fic the jeon zone. They did a cc ask on how they wrote the 8jun but I scrolled for an hour and couldn't find it so uh. Take the fic rec <3

(thank you so much for the ask! I really enjoyed answering this. I definitely plan on doing a GyuHao manifesto in the (long) future after finishing the current manifesto and pushing out some fiction. Have a great day!!)