Seunghyun still remembered the first time they met. He was only ten when he moved into the countryside, where everything was not tall building, bright lights decoration, or random car passing by his house in the middle of the night. The screaming from his mum to him was still clear in his memory, she was trying to tell him and his brother to come back into the house and help her unpack their stuff.

But being a lively and mischievous kid he was, Seunghyun didn’t look back - ignoring his brother whining about being scared that their mum gonna lock them in the bathroom if they didn’t turn back to the house. Sehyun was a little bit like him, but he was more reserved and wasn’t as rebellious as Seunghyun. More often than not, the only reason why Sehyun would get into trouble was when he decided to follow Seunghyun doing stuff that he wasn’t supposed to.

With their little foot they ran on the long straight road. Seunghyun was so fascinated by the simplicity of the road, the dust that covered it and the wide rice field on every single corner of his vision. He missed the noisy, busy road of Seoul, but this couldn’t be all that bad. It could be a new adventure that Captain Song Seunghyun would have to sail and explore with his loyal assistant Sehyun. Thank God he remembered to put on his Luffy’s straw-hat replica before they left the house.

Then he saw him. A lanky boy with dark skin and wavy short hair coming towards their direction, dressed in his school uniform. The boy was cycling on seemingly a brand new bicycle, a proud look was plastered all over his face. Seunghyun stopped running, followed by Sehyun that was too small to make his own decision, who was at the age where he would imitate everything that his big brother did. He heard the unknown boy singing some old trot song, clearly and soothingly even when he was at least ten metres away from Seunghyun.

When the stranger cycled by the two boys, Seunghyun didn’t fail to notice the melodramatic yet intriguing face of that dark-skin boy. Then something fell from his bag. A One Piece manga.

“Hey!!!! You dropped this!!!” young Seunghyun picked up the thick book, running towards the direction of the boy.

He couldn’t help but stare when the boy stopped, supporting himself and the bike with one of his legs against the road. “Oh thanks! I haven’t even read it,” said the boy.

“You like One Piece? Me too!! Look! I have Luffy’s hat.”

“Wow... that’s so cool!” the boy hopped down from his bike, staring at Seunghyun’s hat. “Where did you get it from?”

“They sell a lot of it in Seoul,” he grinned. “Do you want mine? I can always get a new one,” Seunghyun took his hat.

The boy didn’t refuse the offer, looking even prouder than when Seunghyun saw him from far. He even gave Seunghyun a Chopper keychain in exchange.

That day, he decided that he would be his friend. Whoever that boy was.

It was only about a few years later when Seunghyun met him again. He was sitting in his class, chatting to his new classmates, enjoying his new life with uniform and in the same time mourning the fact that he just enrolled in an all-boy middle school. It was just like any other day when he saw the same short wavy hair, dark skin and intriguing face passing by his classroom. His friends could only stare at each other in wonder when Seunghyun suddenly stood up and rushed out from the room.

Seunghyun thought he should say hi to the boy, telling him that it has been a while. And it was exactly what he did - of course he didn't forget to put his brightest and widest smile on.

"Who the hell are you?!" was what the boy said.

Unable to answer him, Seunghyun was left all alone in the hallway. His eyes were fixed at the boy's back that soon disappeared around the corner that led to the stairs. Surprisingly (or maybe not), Seunghyun grinned, turning around to go back to his classroom.

This would be an interesting adventure for Captain Song, he thought.

---

Sadly for Seunghyun, he spent the rest of his middle school years not meeting the boy. It was to the point where he almost forgot about him. He had no idea what happened, but he became busy with school, piano classes and taking care of Sehyun. Somewhere along the line Seunghyun was no longer the troublemaker. He still was but not to the point where his mum would be crying of him misbehaving. The realisation of him being a hyung hit him when Sehyun was caught smoking. He had to hide it from their mum but he managed to convince Sehyun to come clean to their dad.

Being a hyung was a bigger task than being Captain Song.

It earned him trust, though. Probably something that not every parents would give to their son, especially when they knew that this particular son had the ability to imitate a caveman at the most random moment. But bottom line, years later, they let him go back to Seoul on his own to enter university.

University was where he met Minhwan, his roommate at the dorm. At first he thought the shorter guy was quiet and calm, but the first semester had proved him wrong. Minhwan was probably one of the most talkative person Seunghyun had ever met in his entire life. He was just glad that Minhwan’s voice was soft that the constant nagging didn’t annoy him much.

He liked Minhwan very much though. So when he was busy with his first musical project, he didn’t complain each time Minhwan crawled to his bed at night, sleeping next to him because he said he missed him. With practice every time he didn’t have class, he hardly hang out with even his own roommate.

The fondness turned into more than just that.

By the time they entered their second year of university, their relationship had turned from just roommates to ex boyfriends. Yes. Ex boyfriends. They tried to hit it on, making it official with a relationship status. They went through most of their first times together but at the end it didn’t work out the way they wanted to.

There was no desire.

Seunghyun had been asking why at times. Why they broke up? What went wrong? What was the reason for everything? They were still roommates, sharing the same room for almost two years and still fighting over who should turn off the lights when they were about to go to bed and was too tired to move from the bed. They were still best friends, sharing their lives’ stories, their flings on some girls that they found cute.

“I love you so much that I think being in a relationship with you would ruin everything,” was what Minhwan told him one day.

That was six months after they broke up. Minhwan just came back from his class, sitting at the edge of his bed while staring at their room’s window dreamily.

“Why would it?” Seunghyun asked back, putting his script down.

“Because you’re like a family to me. I can’t imagine the day you wouldn’t be around for me because we had a horrible breakup.”

“...we did break up, remember?”

“We did. But would you still be here if we broke up only now?” Minhwan stated simply.

He knew the answer to that. No, he wouldn’t. As simple as that. Even back then, he felt anger, thought that he was betrayed. He was that close to move out from the dorm and get his own place, but he remembered how Minhwan just quietly sat on the bed, staring at him with his watery eyes. The other wasn’t crying, but Seunghyun knew that Minhwan was trying his best not to. He realised that none of them wanted it to end but they were young and weren’t able to see the bigger picture when they decided to call it official.

“I can imagine us hanging out at the bar when we’re in the middle of our thirties, watching some random baseball game that the bartender put on. We will pretend that there is no call from our wives despite the fact that our phones have been ringing endless times since the clock hits the number twelve. I can imagine us for the rest of our lives doing all the things that we’re doing now. But I can’t imagine us waking up next to each other and making pancakes together for breakfast,” said Minhwan.

Seunghyun smiled, agreeing. And he suggested to Minhwan that he should be a chick flick scriptwriter instead of majoring in Communication.

---

It was his final year project that reminded him of the dark skin and lanky boy from the countryside. There was a young musical director that had made it big, previously was also a student in Seunghyun’s university. He came back to produce the yearly musical project that all of those that were majoring in Art and Theatrical Act had to take in order to graduate. His name was Lee Hongki, and he promised that this would be one of the most anticipated acts in Seoul.

He wasn’t alone. He had a musician with him to help them with their songs. The man was well-built, timid facial expression, but was extremely fantastic when he had his guitar in his hand or when he was playing the piano. Choi Jonghun had made it clear that he wasn’t actually interested in being there, but was mostly there because he was dragged by Hongki to join the project as he would only trust this task to his best friend.

Working on his final year project was probably one of the most painful experiences that Seunghyun ever had throughout his musical career (if there was even one to begin with). The pressure that the university put on him and the entire cast was no joke. Hongki might not be a perfectionist, but Jonghun was. When Seunghyun was stuck with his acting, Hongki called him and helped him. The older boy would make him close his eyes and would make him remember certain kind of feelings from the past, allowing him to channel it through his acting at the end of the day. However, when Seunghyun was stuck with his singing, Jonghun would look at him unamusedly. The older guy would make Seunghyun practice his pitch all night long, accompanying Seunghyun with the old black piano that had been kept in the practice hall for years.

It didn’t make sense to Seunghyun because Jonghun himself couldn’t sing well.

After a lot of yelling from Jonghun for weeks, and Hongki’s not so professional effort to help Seunghyun with his singing, the young director brought in a new member of the production team. He was young, slightly taller than Hongki, slim, a little bit tanned, with his silky black hair was swept away from his forehead. Hongki had warned Seunghyun that this guy was just as perfectionist as Jonghun, but he knew all the tricks in singing and he should be able to help Seunghyun. This guy was supposedly some composer who both Hongki and Jonghun had known from their past projects and it could be said that they were now good friends. So Lee Jaejin, or Jaejinnie as Hongki called him, then demonstrated to the whole cast how to sing with their stomach power, and not their necks.

At that moment, Seunghyun suddenly remembered the unknown boy that he encountered years ago.

It wasn’t trot that Jaejin was singing, but the expression that Jaejin had when he sang that random song was so familiar. It was as if someone embedded the beautiful voice into those pieces of memories that Seunghyun had on the boy, a boy with soothing voice - a slightly more high-pitch version of Jaejin’s.

Seunghyun shamelessly walked up to the vocal coach when the practice ended. The walk from where he previously stood to where Jaejin was felt extremely long and nerve-wrecking. What should he say to this man? That he reminded him of a boy that he happened to meet when he moved to the countryside? That they went to the same school even when Seunghyun didn't meet him for the rest of his years there?

"Hi, it has been a while!" Seunghyun said to him, using the same exact sentence he used on the boy when he ran after him in that school hallway.

When Jaejin looked at him in the same exact expression that he had seen years ago, a huge smile grew on Seunghyun’s face. Jaejin was that boy. That fancy hair cut and straightened hair wouldn't be able to hide the intriguing expression that Jaejin had.

"And you are?" Jaejin asked.

"Song Seunghyun. We went to the same all-boy school back in the days," Seunghyun explained.

It took Jaejin a moment to realize which school that Seunghyun was referring to.

"Oh right. Middle school. But I'm very sorry, I don't think I remember you..." Jaejin mumbled, starting to pack his stuff before Jonghun and Hongki left him behind. “But nice to meet you Seunghyun-ssi.”

---

It might have been years, but Seunghyun somehow remembered that declaration that he had told himself when he was still Captain Song. And it would be shameful if Captain Song didn't keep his words, regardless whether he was already retired or not. So yes, now Song-Actor had to carry this task out and make Jaejin his friend.

Minhwan told him that he was out of his mind. There was no way some random boy that Seunghyun had only met twice in his entire life would remember him. Jaejin probably wasn't even that boy. But Seunghyun shut him up by saying that of all people, Minhwan had no right to tell him that - considering the amount of cheesy romance dramas that the shorter guy watched on daily basis. Typical dramas would say that anything was possible. So Minhwan should have some faith in him.

But it was easier said than done. Befriending Jaejin was as hard as trying to sing right. Hongki wasn't joking when he said Jaejin was as perfectionist as Jonghun. In fact, Jaejin confronted him more often than Jonghun did. Not once or twice Jaejin would scold Seunghyun, telling him that he didn't practice enough and it showed very well in his progress. It was to the point where Jaejin started to get into his nerve.

"Stop pressuring me!" he snapped one day. "Just because I'm slow and need more practice than most people, it doesn't mean that I'm not trying my best!"

The outburst resulted in Jaejin dismissing the practice early but telling Seunghyun to stay behind. Damn, he thought. Now he had screwed up and Song-Actor would be such a disappointment for Captain Song. His adventurous skill had gone from awesome into bottom rock, sinking down in a deep sea like a rusty anchor.

"I shouldn't have snapped. I'm sorry," said Seunghyun when both of them stood in silence for a good whole minute.

Jaejin stared at him, surprisingly didn't look mad, but he didn't look like he was happy about it either.

"From now on, you should have extra practice time," Jaejin said simply. "With me."

As much as he wanted to turn down the offer, the back of his mind told him that this would be a really good opportunity. Jaejin would see with his own eyes that Seunghyun was trying his best, and Seunghyun would have more time with the older guy. He shouldn't miss this chance!

So since then, they'd meet up to practice Seunghyun's lines. Sometimes at the practice room, and sometimes Jaejin made him come over to his studio at work. Seunghyun liked the studio. There were at least two guitars, a keyboard, and dozens of bass (no, not really, but Jaejin had a lot of it). More often than not, Jonghun would be in the studio to discuss work with Jaejin, and to do absolutely nothing too at times. Hongki, on the other hand, only existed in form of phone calls - like when he wanted to dine out or have a drink with Jaejin.

As time went by, Seunghyun didn't mind the scolding anymore and he even became brave enough to pull pranks on Jaejin, especially after realising that Jaejin wasn't that much older than him. In some other country, they both could have attended the same school year. Jaejin would get angry, throwing kicks and hits towards him, but Seunghyun kind of liked it. Especially because once Jaejin was satisfied with the beating, he would look away and actually smiled secretly when he thought no one was watching him. But Seunghyun noticed. And that was why he kept on doing it.

One random night, Minhwan simply stated that Seunghyun was in love.

"No, I'm not. I told you that I'm gonna be his friend and I'm that close to reach my goal."

"Of course, Romeo. You just want to be friends with him. That's why you always talk about him, yeah?" with a knowing look, Minhwan laughed.

But Seunghyun quickly made a mental note to tell Minhwan that he was right when he found himself in Jaejin's studio, kissing the older guy. Jonghun dropped by with a brand new liquor bottle that he bought in a duty free shop, trying to be a good friend to Jaejin because apparently something had happened and he had to gave Jaejin something for forgiveness (that, or Jonghun was trying to make Jaejin to write lyrics for him that was not depressing but Jaejin refused to). And the moment the buff man left, Jaejin decided to take a shot before they start practicing - which was a bad idea because he ended up drinking more and Seunghyun joined him half way.

In his state of half sober and half intoxicated, Seunghyun pinned Jaejin down on the leather couch and captured the other guy's lips that he had been staring at since the alcohol started to run in his system. Jaejin didn't resist. He mumbled a "...what the hell Seung--" but he didn't finish his sentence and kissed Seunghyun back instead, welcoming him while closing his eyes. In the middle of dominance battle and trying not to fall from the couch, Seunghyun’s inner Captain Song was trying to remind him that he was supposed to make Jaejin his friend, and not a victim of his molestation.

But Jaejin’s breathing against his ear as he trailed down his kisses to the older guy’s neck was enthralling, making his jeans feel uncomfortably tight. There were small, little fights from Jaejin when Seunghyun was being dominating, almost as if he was trying to remind him that he was still his hyung and for the very least Seunghyun should show some respect and not just jump on him like a hungry animal. Though really, who was Jaejin to joke about it? With the small consciousness that he had left in him, Seunghyun was prepared for the usual beating even though it wasn’t a prank. But there was no beating, so Seunghyun had concluded that Jaejin didn’t mind being a prey.

Seunghyun’s hands were halfway undoing Jaejin’s belt when Hongki walked in, was cheerfully declaring that he hadn’t been there in ages and that he thought he should drop by - quickly followed by a loud “Holy !!!” when he realised that he was witnessing something that he probably shouldn’t have seen. They quickly broke their kiss and parted away. Jaejin stood up as he wiped his lips with the back of his hand - greeting Hongki awkwardly - while Seunghyun crawled over to the other couch while fixing his hair.

Hongki then banned Seunghyun from having private practice with Jaejin for the rest of the project.

---

Like it or not, Captain Song would have to accept the fact that his fellow inner Seunghyun, aka Song-Actor, had failed his mission in making Jaejin his friend. Not only Seunghyun now had less time to spend with Jaejin, only meeting two to three times a week during practice, they hardly talked to each other too. Seunghyun would catch Jaejin staring at him at times, but diverting his gaze right away when they made eye-contact. He didn’t even scold Seunghyun anymore when he made a mistake.

Minhwan called it the lovers’ quarrel, but they weren’t lovers to begin with. Seunghyun wasn’t even sure what they were. Friends was definitely out of the question because he had failed to fulfill his goal. Tutor and student? That was probably more like it if not because Jaejin hadn’t been helping him since Hongki banned Seunghyun from having extra lesson.

Then on a heavily raining evening, Seunghyun saw Jaejin standing in front of the building's entrance. He looked troubled, clicking his tongue when he realised that the rain wouldn’t stop anytime soon. Their practice had ended long ago, but Seunghyun had to wait for Minhwan and give his room key to the smaller guy because Minhwan accidentally left it at home. And since Seunghyun was planning on practicing for next week final rehearsal the whole night, he decided to just give his to Minhwan. But yeah, it had been raining the entire time he was waiting for Minhwan (that guy took way too long so Seunghyun ended up telling him to just get the key from him himself later), and Seunghyun was almost not shocked when he found Jaejin still there in the Performance Art building.

He walked closer, his grip on his umbrella tightened as the distance between him and the entrance (or Jaejin) lessened. Their eyes met. His heart stopped as he quickly anticipated Jaejin to look away before it lasted more than a second. The adventure that he had set on as a child had long abandoned when Hongki walked into them kissing. It was probably already over when Seunghyun decided that he wanted to kiss Jaejin.

But it didn’t happen. Jaejin didn’t look away.

“Still here?” Seunghyun spoke up, putting his umbrella aside when he reached the entrance.

With a small nod as an answer, Jaejin finally drag his gaze away. “It’s raining. I didn’t bring my car today. My sister is using it for the day.”

“I’m going to practice. Since you’re stuck here anyway, I would love to have some professional advice from you, if you don’t mind,” Seunghyun quickly suggested. “You haven’t been helping me much lately. It feels rather unfair, you know.”

Funny enough, Seunghyun didn’t have to ask twice. The moment he turned around and made his way to the practice room, he could hear Jaejin’s footsteps following him. Jaejin was quiet the whole time, even when Seunghyun started to practice. He sat at the far end of the mirror, letting his legs crossed on the floor as he watched Seunghyun from afar.

“There’s nothing to fix,” said Jaejin.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“So that’s why you haven’t been talking to me?” asked Seunghyun, turning the minus one off.

When Jaejin didn’t answer him, Seunghyun decided to throw his masks away. No more Captain Song, and no more Song-Actor. What would Song Seunghyun do instead? With that thought, he sat down next to Jaejin, leaning his back against the mirror.

“Because Hongki-hyung caught us... and he banned you from getting extra lesson,” Jaejin answered.

“Doesn’t mean you should stop talking to me...”

“...well, there was the kiss...” Jaejin sighed. “Don’t you get it? It’s Hongki’s first independent act. Not sponsored by big names, and not played by famous actors. He wouldn’t want us ruining it.”

“By not letting me getting more lessons?” Seunghyun rolled his eyes, looking upset for the first time in front of Jaejin.

“Why are you so slow sometimes?” Jaejin frowned. “By not letting you get distracted is more like it. I don’t want you to get distracted either, so I thought it’d be better for you to do it on your own.”

“Why would I be distracted? I’m perfectly capable of practicing with a professional composer like you. We did it for a couple of months.”

Then a familiar hit landed on his head. Seunghyun turned his head to Jaejin, eyes as wide as a puppy begging for some cookies (but more towards shocked than anything else). What was that for? He hadn’t pulled any prank and now Jaejin just decided to hit his head? So much for asking advice from a pro.

“You like me, don’t you?” Jaejin pulled his knees up, wrapping his arms around them.

“Is it that obvious?”

“It kind of is. I guess that’s why I scold you way too much. When you ask question or just listen to my advice, your eyes were like sparkling. Like a child staring at a magical lollipop or something. Hongki-hyung and Jonghun-hyung always make fun of me every time they see you doing it. It was kind of creepy at first, but I guess I just got used to it at the end.”

Seunghyun shifted closer, letting Jaejin talk. He smiled when Jaejin mentioned how Hongki and Jonghun made fun of him when they saw Seunghyun staring at Jaejin in admiration. Jaejin was creeped out at first, but somewhere along the line - Jaejin unwillingly admitted - he kind of got used to it and would feel awkward when Seunghyun wasn’t doing it.

“Hyung, do you like me too then?” said Seunghyun with a straight face.

“I’m not supposed to. I’m your tutor.”

Then he smiled. He might have failed to sail the great adventure of making Jaejin his friend, but he was no idiot to not understand Jaejin’s answer. In glee, he leaned forward, lessening the gap between them. He saw the way Jaejin was half-liddedly staring at him, not pulling away even when their breath started to dance with their closeness.

“Can you not be my tutor? Just for now?” Seunghyun said softly, pressing his lips against Jaejin’s, not waiting for an answer.

With no alcohol in his system, Seunghyun could feel a funny tingling sensation over his spine, reminding him the time when he kissed Minhwan for the very first time. As Jaejin leaned in, wrapping his hands around Seunghyun’s neck, he felt butterflies exploding in his stomach. Jaejin’s lips were soft, tasted bitter like coffee (and he remembered that Jaejin like strong coffee), and Jaejin felt so small. Small, probably wasn’t something that Seunghyun had thought Jaejin as. Seunghyun himself was as skinny as person could be, his clothes size was even smaller than Minhwan who was almost ten centimetres shorter. But he realised that behind those hyung-like snobby attitude that Jaejin had, the tutor had never even once pushed Seunghyun away. Be it intoxicated or like right now, sober, Jaejin let Seunghyun show how much he liked him with the kiss.

Then it didn’t matter anymore if Jaejin was that boy from the countryside or not. He just wanted the rain to keep pouring so hard and lock them inside the building for the rest of the night.

---

Jaejin was replaced by a blonde lady after that incident. Seunghyun was disappointed because he couldn’t protest on the change, especially because this Noona (Choa, her name was) was extremely good and actually helped Seunghyun a lot with his breathing intervals. But being curious he was, he ended up asking Hongki about the change, and Hongki answered him with “I think you know why.”

As the musical day got nearer and nearer, Seunghyun felt the pressure started to finally sink into his head. He would drag Minhwan to go out and have a drink with him, complaining on how his acting career was evil because as much as he liked Choa, he wanted to have someone to stare at during practice. He had missed the random hits that Jaejin would do if he pulled prank on him.

“You’re love sick, Romeo,” Minhwan only laughed, but was nice enough to treat Seunghyun with more pints of beer.

Seunghyun quickly accepted the diagnose, knowing that Romeo Song was probably the stupidest version of himself because he didn’t even know Jaejin’s phone number. He could just go to Jaejin’s studio but he knew Jonghun would be there, and Jonghun would tell Hongki, and he would get into trouble. Not to mention that he hardly had any time to even just hang out with anyone at all.

Then one day Hongki called him aside to the corner of the practice room, handing him a small card. “Use it wisely,” the director patted his shoulder.

He opened the card, was greeted by an extremely familiar handwriting. He had seen these handwriting in his music sheets, with arrows and small tricks on breathing places written so half heartedly on the white paper. This time, the writing was a lot neater, but he could recognise it really well.

“Seunghyun, the play is in three days, right? How’s everything? Is Choa-noona helping you just alright? She’s a genius. I picked her to replace me. I hope she doesn’t nag too much. She tends to do that way too often.

Anyway, good luck with the play!!! When you’re done with it, you have my permission to call me.

Yes.

I’m gonna give you my number.

But don’t call me. Not until you’re done with the play. I won’t answer your calls if you do. Be a good boy and don’t give Jonghun high blood pressure, okay? I still need him alive for our next project.

Oh... and I think remember you. You were that kid that gave me that Luffy’s hat. I still have it. And I see that you still have the keychain I gave you. Saw it when you gave your key to your roommate that night. Why didn’t I know that we went to the same school?

Oh well. Good luck!!!”

Seunghyun smiled, or grinned, flipping the card to find a phone number written on the next page. This adventure literally took him years and even when he didn’t manage to make Jaejin his friend, he had gained more than just that.

Romeo Song kind of liked how the adventure ended.

---

I was trying to use a different writing style, but at the end, it ended up weird I guess. But, I hope it wasn't too bad DX