It wasn't as though Yeong-sik had been entirely oblivious; he knew well enough that the majority of the people he found himself associated with were more than a little easy on the eyes. He'd always been able to appreciate the more aesthetic aspects of the idol industry - everyone was well dressed, constantly polished to appeal to the public. The lifestyle was rigorous, full of training and schedules and diets that for the most part kept everyone fairly trim and fit. Many, like himself, had been sought out for their looks rather than any sort of latent talent.
So it wasn't like he didn't know, in the vacant and forgettable way that one might remember how to breathe, that he was constantly surrounded by attractive men. Perhaps the rather stressful environment that surrounded their trainee days had left him little room to consider his opinion of it. Maybe the time spent adjusting to hectic schedules and sleep deprivation had left him so dead to the world that it hadn't mattered. Whatever the reason, it had never been a problem until now.
More than once he'd almost been driven to distraction during practice by an ill-timed glance at one of his groupmates, nearly tripping and making even more of a fool of himself than usual. The only thing that kept him from doing so had been muscle memory, paired with the fact that the others likely expected him to do the worst in some moves to begin with. Dancing had never come naturally to him, and while he'd never expected that it would be to an advantage he couldn't help but find himself thankful that it covered for any mistakes caused by wandering eyes.
While Yeong-sik was sure that the rest of NOVA had an easy time writing off his flustered mishaps as either inability or his general proclivity towards embarrassment, it was starting to wear on him. He knew realistically that he was the weak link of the best of days, and in the two short months since he'd come to the sudden realization that perhaps there was a bit more to his idle appreciation than once thought he'd only gotten worse. It was fear of holding the others back when they'd already come so far that led him to seek advice, despite whatever misgivings he might have about coming forward about his sudden interest.
There weren't exactly an abundance of options - which is why late Wednesday afternoon he found himself standing awkwardly outside the closed door of his own dorm room, trying to gather his courage. He could faintly hear Jeremy and Se-jin bickering from somewhere down the hallway, knew logically he was going to have to do something here if he didn't want to be caught poised to knock on his own door for the fifth time in as many weeks. With no small amount of reluctance he pushed the door open, peeking around the frame to be sure that Sol was actually in the room and he hadn't psyched himself up for nothing.
"Sol! You're not too busy to talk are you? I mean, even if you're not busy, I can come back later. Maybe I should just do that actually! I didn't mean to disturb you. Sorry!" The words sort of just fell out of his mouth, tumbling over one another before he could even process it. So much for gathered confidence. He turned tail back towards the door, nearly running into it in his haste to try and disappear back into the hallway.