Chapter 1
Needed You
After endless nights spent in the studio, Bobby's solo was finally announced. He scrolled at the new headline that popped up on his Twitter and smiled. It was a bittersweet moment. YG finally thought he was ready and the expectations were high. He won Show Me the Money. He was chill with Illionaire. He was in "Born Haters" with Tablo and other respected rappers in the game. Everyone knew him. Everyone was watching him.
It made everything worse. He settled for nothing but perfection. The other iKon boys would try to come and help him to relax or offer ideas. Junhoe joked around by offering to be a feature and provide a soulful song. Hanbin tried to come in a few times to help produce or have another opinion. Chanwoo would bring food sometimes with Donghyuk. Yunhyeong and Jinhwan also came to try to get Bobby to go outside to play some basketball or other sources of fresh air. The stress took over him, however, and he pushed them away countless times. An act that brought him huge regret, but everyone understood. It felt like he was debuting again.
Bobby had one more night to send the final masterlist of songs for his album to YG in order to begin the mass production. However, something felt off. One particular song wasn't coming together and YG approved of it, but Bobby didn't feel that it was complete. He saw the words and rapped it, but the emotion and story wasn't there. He didn't know what the problem was or how to even begin to fix it. There wasn't any solution.
Bobby checked the time, sighing in frustration as the clock ticked its way to 1 am. He decided to play Taeyang's song to get his ideas rolling and loosen up. He sat on the chair, bobbing his head to the beat and tapping his pencil while humming the melody. Bobby remembered reading an article where Taeyang told the media that he wrote some of the songs based on missing a lover. One song in particular was meant for an actual ex and he conveyed his feelings through the song and eventually the album was completed with that final song. Min Hyorin and him were a cute couple that people adored and supported graciously. Love made his album shine brightly.
Bobby's movements were starting to get sluggish and his eyes drooping towards the end of the song. He didn't leave the room the whole day, forgetting to hydrate and energize his body. The fatigue was catching up to him and no matter how much he tried to fight it, it won. By the time he fell asleep, iKON's recent single played and he dozed off after thinking of her, saying softly to himself, "What are you doing today?"
Bobby was awakened to a soft shake and tug on his shoulder. The person touched his cheek and forehead, in their teeth in annoyance. He groaned and moved in his chair, making the person stop. He was about to get angry at the person for disturbing his slumber when he saw a pair of eyes looking down at him with worry.
"You're so cold Bobby." Bobby just blinked as he looked up at his best friend, in utter disbelief that she was there. "Have you been drinking water and eating? No matter what, your health comes first. How are you going to rap if you're in the hospital or even worse, dead?" Normally, Bobby would have scoffed and ignored her words. However, this was the first time he has seen her in a while and this time felt different. The last time he saw her, he couldn't even remember.
She looked different. Looking at her made his heart beat a little faster than usual. Words wanted to come out, but his throat was so dry and he suddenly forgot how to speak. He couldn't remember what he was doing or why he was in the studio.
"You're dehydrated and you need food." She took his hand to pull him out of the chair and onto to sofa by them. Bobby felt a spark jolt from his hand to his entire body. Suddenly, his face felt warm and he began to sweat a little bit. He didn't know why he was so nervous. This was his best friend. The girl he would tell everything to. The girl he counted would be able to snap him back to reality and help him feel better. The girl that he appreciated to the moon and back.
She pulled the coffee table closer to them and started taking out the food she brought to place on the table. He watched her careful movements and smiled. She turned her head to look at him and pushed her hair to the other side so it was all on one side. He gulped at the sight, not sure why she looked so beautiful doing all that for him. That wasn't the first time she brought food and set a table. This was the first time Bobby experienced such weird emotions around her. He didn't know what was going on.
"Bobby, you're sweating and you're red. Damn it, I swear if you're sick too, I'm going to kick your ." She got up to get a wet towel to put on his head, but he grabbed her hand to stop her.
"No, I'm fine," he croaked, "just stay here and eat with me. I'm starving." She just rolled her eyes and sat down.
"Of course you are you ," she grabbed a pair of chopsticks to give to him and they began to eat. Nobody said anything and the only sounds in the room were the chopsticks grabbing food and the soft sound of chewing.
"How did you get up here?" he asked to break the silence.
"Oh, Hanbin called me. He was telling me about how you were camping out here and you refused to leave. He didn't even know if you went out to use the bathroom. He asked me to come to try to get you out of this trance and revive you in case you were dead. We haven't seen each other in a while since our plans are always ruined so I was like 'eh why not. I miss my bunny boy.'" Bobby just chuckled. She was the first one to call him a bunny because of his teeth and he found it cute how she said it with a higher voice everytime.
"I missed you too," he said, "I'm glad you're here."
"Hey, anything for you y," she said with a giggle. He pouted and flicked her forehead as punishment. She rubbed her forehead in pain as he shook his head with a smile. "So what's wrong anyway?"
"Did you hear about my solo album?"
"Yes! I'm so proud of you," she said jumping a bit in her seat. "Congratulations!"
"Thanks," he said with a small smile, "I have to send YG a masterlist of all the completed songs and as I'm checking it, there is this one song that just doesn't cut it for me."
"Let me listen. I used to always help when you had trouble with your old songs. Maybe I still have the magic touch." Bobby smiled and got up to play the song. She followed with a container of food. He sat on the chair while she leaned against the counter. As they listened, she fed him some fish cakes and he ate it with a furrow in his eyebrows due to his discontent with the song. He watched as she bobbed her head to the song, eager for her input. She closed her eyes and listened carefully. As she did so, Bobby's expression changed, watching her with a lightness in his heart. He felt so happy to see her there and was taken aback by how beautiful she looked as she listened with care. Bobby made sure to look away once the song finished and she opened her eyes to look at him.
"You're rapping."
"Thank you captain obvious," he said with a mock tone in his voice.
She laughed and shook her head.
"No I mean, that's all I hear. You're just rapping and sound like every other rapper. Just saying words fast on beat to sound cool. I don't feel anything. The beginning is good, but then it loses its touch. It's like Tablo's music. When you listen to it, you feel something. There is a story and a message. What is your story? What is your message? What is this song even about?" Bobby looked at her and back at the computer. He pulled up the lyrics. He couldn't even remember what his intention was with writing the song.
As he skimmed through the lyrics, he widened his eyes as he looked at her. She fed him the last fish cake and he started to feel his face getting warm again. When she looked at him, she got surprised.
"Damn it Bobby, what is wrong with you?" She went to feel his forehead, but as she did, he grabbed her hand again. "Bobby?" She said slowly as he brought her hand down and just held it. He sighed as he looked slowly up to her, chuckling softly.
"You."
"What?" She asked in confusion. He looked at their hands and interlocked their fingers, pulling her a little closer.
"It's about you." This time, it was her turn to look at him with widened eyes.
"What do you-" she was cut off by a stronger tug by Bobby who pulled her into his lap. He was too shy to look at her in the eyes just yet, so she sat in his lap flustered with him back hugging her. He rested his chin on her shoulder and leaned against her with a sigh.
"Now I remember. I was watching some of our old rap videos and I started to get inspiration from that. While I started writing the lyrics, I was having fun talking about us and you. However, you texted me that same day telling me you couldn't come to my guerrilla concert, becoming the 5th time our plans were crushed." She remembered that time. She had to take care of her grandmother that day. Bobby held her tighter as if trying to prevent her from running. Her breathing was starting to shake from the nervousness as she listened to his words slowly.
"YG also came to me to say that I couldn't visit my family until I finished the album. So out of anger, I just wrote whatever lyrics came to mind to finish the thing. I was angry at you so this is basically my roast rap to you," he chuckled softly. "In the process, my anger mixed with my heartfelt feelings for you and it all just clashes creating this mess." She was scared to say anything, fearing what could happen. Bobby wasn't sure why he was saying everything but it all felt right and he felt safe. He never realized his true feelings for her. He never noticed that the little smiles he had on his face when he thought about her meant something more. He always ignored it for the sake of their frienship relationship, but he always knew in the back of his mind that what he felt for her was different than when they were children. His head was clearing and things were beginning to click.
"I think I needed to be reminded of what the song was about and figure out what my feelings were for you. The mess in the song is the mess in my head about what I felt about you. I needed my partner in crime. I needed my best friend." He loosened his hold on her and turned her enough so that he could look her in the eyes. He brushed away the hair in her face and pushed a strand behind her ear.
She looked shyly at him, breathing softly. His eyes were sincere and full of care. The look he gave her was different than anything he gave before. They've been together forever. They were childhood friends in ia and then separated when he moved to Korea to be a trainee at YG. It was a hard time being away from each other after being able to just go to one another whenever they wanted. She eventually moved to Korea with her family because they wanted to spend time with her grandmother who lived out of Seoul and was alone.
Throughout all their time together, they had never discussed their feelings towards one another in that way. Everyone always said how they looked like such a cute couple. They always cheered each other on when they were doing things they loved. She was always his best supporter when it came to his music and he always encouraged her with school. They only saw each other as perfect friends and ignored all the comments. She had to admit that she did always have a little admiration for Bobby. A feeling that went beyond appreciating him as someone she trusted, but someone she truly cared about with all her heart. She, of course, never told Bobby and just kept the feelings bottled up inside.
The love she had for him had been growing in recent years and she couldn't help but begin a crush on her best friend. It scared her and she always refused to talk about it in fear of ruining their friendship. She chose their friendship over her heart. Her heart was beating hard against her chest, so hard that she was afraid that he would be able to hear it.
He smiled at her surprised state. His eyes disappeared becoming little crescents and flashing his famous bunny teeth. Her heart melted at the sight, not ready for his next words.
"I needed you." He looked at her with a slightly different look as he brought his hand up to her face to cup it softly. She looked back at him with a bit of uneasiness, unsure of what all of this could lead to for their future. She wasn't prepared for any of this. He pulled her face closer to his and he leaned in closer to her. Their noses touched and their lips just centimeters apart. He whispered so softly so only they could hear it.
"I needed the person I love." He connected their lips and they both melted into the kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning a bit more onto him. He held her waist tightly, convincing himself this was all real. Time stopped around them and their only focus was each other. They always found the stories of feeling fireworks and sparks flying when people kissed to be stupid. However, all they could feel was the fireworks as their heartbeat went faster than usual and their brains clicked as they realized what their mixed emotions really meant. The love that they had for each other finally made sense and the happiness that they felt electrified their entire body. They breathed heavily when they separated and put their foreheads against each other.
"Wow." They both chuckled at their same reaction. Bobby hugged her tightly. She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed, loving the warmness she felt from being in his arms. The warm feeling spread throughout her body, into her heart.
"Thank you for being there for me always." He said carefully. He hesitated before saying his next words, not wanting to scare her. Feeling how tight she held him, he knew that she trusted him and reciprocated his feelings. "I love you." He kissed her head and she tried to prevent the tears from falling down her face. She failed, however, because he pulled her away and started wiping away the tears while laughing.
"Man after all these years, you're still a crybaby." She punched his chest playfully as she looked away drying off the rest of the tears. He smiled and laughed at her action. She turned back to look at him and the computer with the unfinished song.
"So do you know how to fix it now?" she asked softly. His heart melted at how quiet her voice was, as if he literally took her breath away to the point where se couldn't talk normally.
He nodded and went to work on it with her in a chair next to him that she pulled up. They spent the next few hours rewriting lyrics, fixing the melody, recording, and editing it to perfection. After a few hours, she knocked out on the couch as he fixed the final details. Bobby checked the clock and sighed as it read 6 am. He rubbed his eyes, ready for a long and deep slumber once everything was finished. While he waited for all the songs to burn on the CD, Bobby got up from the counter to sit with her on the couch. He smiled at the sight of her curled up on the couch snoring softly. He carefully picked up her head and upper body so that he could lay down with her. Bobby held her in his arms and cuddled with her as their legs interlocked, deciding to sleep a little bit while he waited. They both went into deep slumber, sleeping for a few hours. They didn't hear the knock on the door nor the door opening.
Taeyang popped his head in, coming to pick up the CD.
"Bobby?" He looked around the room and saw the two of them on the couch. He entered the room with a smile. Hyorin came inside the room too, sighing happily at the sight of them on the couch.
"Aww look at this," she said quietly to Taeyang who was at the computer. "They are so cute." Taeyang put his arm around her, CD in his other hand.
"Not like us though. Come on, I have to give this to YG. I'll send the annoying kids to wake them up later." They laughed and left the room, closing the lights to let the two sleep in peace.
After a while, Bobby woke up and rubbed his eyes. He felt a weight against him and smiled when he looked down to see her still sleeping. She moved around while they were asleep and her head was under his with her arms. Remembering what happened earlier that day made his heart flutter until he remembered the CD. He shifted abruptly, waking up her, to check the time on his phone. She looked up at him, eyes squinted.
"What happened?"
"I fell asleep here with you and forgot about the CD that was I was supposed to go give YG," she watched as he scrolled through his phone and typed something in, "but apparently, Taeyang came in to look for me and did it himself after seeing us." He showed her his message from Taeyang and she smiled.
"He's a cool dude."
"He is," Bobby said, "come on, I'm still tired. It's only 10am. Let's sleep for a little longer." She smiled and they both shifted so they were a bit more comfortable. He wrapped his arms her as she hugged his arms. He rested his head against hers and they both fell asleep again with a loving smile on their faces.
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