will you open your heart a little bit more.
don't you need someone. like me.

chapter seven.

“You guys totally deserved the win.”

Himchan looked genuinely upset, frowning, as the two younger brothers ran off stage to meet up with their older. As much as Junhong didn’t like the guy - not as much as he should have anyways, he was, undoubtedly, annoying as anyone could get - he couldn’t help but laugh at the pouted look he pulled off. It made him look like a demented chipmunk - not that Junhong pointed it out, doing so could lead him with a face full of dirt and or dirty toilet water (Himchan looked like the sort to carrying around basketball court sized friends to dunk his annoyances into the urinals).

“How could they give you just the gold? You guys totally deserved the grand prize, just saying. This is total bull . They paid the runners of the contest, I tell you. This is fraud! Riot! I demand a riot!”

It made Junhong laugh; it was hilarious just how upset Himchan was getting over a competition that wasn’t even his. Even more hilarious how Jongup seemed to flush red in second hand embarrassment, throwing his palms up against his brother’s lower half of face, muffling the teasing, halfhearted chants for disaster.

And then it, maybe, slightly upset him, about how Yongguk wasn’t doing the same, pointing fingers at the judges who hadn’t crowned his baby brother the supreme ruler of dance - but then again, he had this goofy smile on his face that stretched his lips completely away from his gums, and that was enough to have Junhong backing off with a grin of his own. He didn’t word it, Yongguk had never been too great with words, but Junhong could feel the sincerity radiating off his brother’s pores - metaphorically.

Catching a bead of sweat before it could get into his eyes, Junhong watched as Jongup half-assed nudge Himchan in the ribs with his sweaty arms - getting his brother’s pink button-up smudged in his sweat. He laughed as the pink-lover began complaining, swatting Jongup on his upper arm, but nevertheless pulling him in for a hug after.

They hadn’t won, but Junhong supposed that didn’t particularly matter.

They were young, they had hundreds of more competitions just waiting on them to steal.

And plus, Yongguk was there, looking as proud as he could ever be; perhaps even more than he had been, when Junhong had had brought home his first A from his English class. That was more than enough of a prize for the younger BangChoi - it seemed, no matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t quite escape his surname and how jarringly different from Yongguk’s it was. It was hundreds of times better than any amount of money could be.

(Though, he wouldn’t have at all complained if they’d perhaps gotten a little above the 250,000 won they’d gotten. No, he wouldn’t have complained at all.)

“Did you see me?” Inching away from his friend, Junhong peered at his brother from behind frizzed bangs, blinking hard to avoid the sweat piling just above his eyelids. He wanted a compliment.

“I did.” The smile on Yongguk had Junhong beam, his stomach doing a little flip and his heart going a little faster than it had even on stage. “You were amazing. Since when could my little, baby brother dance like that?”

Junhong flushed a pretty shade of pink, rolling his tongue over his lips. “I practiced real, real hard.”

And I did it so you could see.

Yongguk nodded. “I could tell.”

He smiled, giggled, ducking his head and covering his smile with his hand. Being around Yongguk made him feel much like a simple school girl, all embarrassed and flustered over meeting the idol of their dreams - though Junhong got to see his every day, he’d never truly get tired of seeing that look on Yongguk’s face. It wasn’t a bad feeling at all.

Kicking into the ground with a sort of grunt - an embarrassment acknowledgement to the mountaining compliments - Junhong nudged into Yongguk’s arms, half forcing the embrace around his shoulders.

“Really, you were fantastic,” Yongguk smiled into his ear, breath hot against Junhong’s ear as warm arms wrapped around the younger’s waist, Junhong’s back against broad chest. “I almost couldn’t recognize you up there. You should’ve told me you liked dancing. I could’ve talked mom into letting you take classes.”

(But that would have kept time away from Yongguk; Junhong wouldn’t have wanted that. Yongguk made higher priority to dancing.)

“And Himchan’s right, you guys deserved the grand.”

“You’re just saying that.”

“No, I mean it.”

Junhong his lips. He twisted in the grip around his lower waist, blinking in surprise at the close proximity that hung between the two brothers.

Would it have been wrong, if Junhong wanted to close the gap? To get closer?

“Geez, get a room, will you?”

To the younger brother’s dismay, Himchan was there before Junhong had a chance to come up with a final decision - did he want to kiss his brother? On the lips? - stepping in between the two brothers with a badly feigned look of annoyance - he was too buzzed, secondhand excitement from their stage, from his baby brother’s first small party dance.

“I have an idea,” Himchan hummed, an index finger pointed in the air excitedly.

“I don’t like your ideas, they’re never good news.” Yongguk was laughing, seemingly not nearly as affected to their earlier exchange as Junhong had been - was. He reached forward, poking his friend in the rib, snickering at the pitched yelp and slap of hands that came with the tease.

“And you’re an absolute douche. You’re lucky I’m thick skinned, jerk.”

Junhong rolled his eyes. Thick skinned, or just dumb.

Himchan didn’t seem to have caught Junhong’s otherwise rude behavior, continuing with his finger still jabbed in the air. “Since they showed us their stage, how’s we let them in on ours?”

“Really? You mean you’ll let us go to Hongdae tonight?”

Jongup was the one to speak up, but Junhong too was just as curious to the answer. He knew Yongguk had gigs in the night district - where children, like Junhong and Jongup, weren’t allowed - but it was also a fact that the older brother had never once let his baby brother join in on his nightly runs. Something about it being too dangerous, about it overstepping the protective barrier he’d set around Junhong.

Junhong just really wanted to see. He wanted to see Yongguk perform.

He’d be perfect, Junhong knew it.

There was a conflicted look crossing Yongguk’s face, and Junhong’s spirits fell. It was never a good sign when that look crossed his face. It had been the look he’d gotten before he always gave bad news, before the more saintly part of his brain took over, claiming that, no, Junhong was not allowed to drink underage.

“Oh come on Yongguk, don’t be such a grandpa. I’ve taken Jongup before and nothing bad happened - don’t give me that look, you know nothing bad happened, you were there!”

Yongguk had this stern look on his face, an expression he didn’t quite so often wear around Junhong. It had him cringe back a little, shuffling a half step backwards. It wasn’t a suiting look for someone so placid as Yongguk.

But Himchan didn’t seem too moved by it. It must have been a look he got often. Junhong wouldn’t have been surprised. Himchan, even to his eyes - and Junhong hadn’t seen Himchan nearly as much as Yongguk had - was an impossible creature.

“He got drunk, Himchan, drunk. I’m pretty sure that lists in as something bad.”

“Hey, he got home and in bed fine without mom and dad knowing.”

Junhong gave his friend a sideways glance. “You got drunk?” He mouthed, lifting a brow at a party he’d apparently been kept out of. This wasn’t fair at all. Jongup had gotten to go, but he hadn’t?

The shorter friend gave a half hearted shrug, mouthing back a loose, “It wasn’t much fun,” before turning his attention back to the arguing brothers. Was there something else that was being kept out of? It seemed Junhong was being kicked out from having any fun around, these days.

Jongup, however, seemed to catch on to Junhong’s mood - he was so much more aware than his blunt brother - nudging the months younger boy with a lopsided grin. “I’m serious. It wasn’t much fun. Beer is bitter and the hangover, or at least that’s what Himchan called it, is a .”

Yeah, but it was also a that Junhong had been kept out of.

Still he let the incident slide, deciding that he’d get as drunk as he could possibly get once he got his citizenship card. When Yongguk wouldn’t be able to stop him from drinking and having fun - maybe then, Yongguk would drink with him and they could have fun together.

“Come on, Yongguk.” When Junhong turned back to his brother, Himchan was hanging practically off of Yongguk, arms thrown around the thick base of the slightly taller male. “Don’t be such a kill joy. It’ll be just once. Don’t you think Junhong deserves an award for being so amazingly great on stage today? I mean, the stupid judges don’t know what brilliance is, so shouldn’t we at least reward them?”

Yongguk was at a cross between decisions. His brain told him that Junhong was too young, too innocent, to enter the underground staged area where his second home breathed; but his heart, his everything else wanted his younger brother there, watching as he rapped and sang out the words he couldn’t during the day.

Eventually, his brain and morality gave in.

“Fine, just once, alright?”

Himchan gave a victorious hoop, jumping off of Yongguk’s shoulder to skip over to the younger brothers, grasping their hands and giving out an obnoxious yell. And for once, Junhong didn’t mind Himchan being so annoying. He might have even joined in on the little jumping and skipping circle the three of them now formed.

“It’ll be so much fun! Just wait until you try some of the cocktail there! Rabi makes the absolute best of Screaming s Korea has.”

Yongguk had to pull Himchan away then, arms flailing and hands clamped around his blabbering friend’s mouth. He’d gone a bright red in the face as he made a series of noises to block out the screams of what Junhong felt might have been profanities screaming from his mouth.

“Screaming s?”

“It’s not what you think.” Jongup looked down at his feet, obviously thinking exactly what Junhong was. “It’s a cocktail. Just with a funny name.”

Jongup was so thinking of something else.

Junhong didn’t call him out on it.

Instead, he nudged Jongup on the shoulder, making a jib at how tinted the dancer’s cheeks had gotten at the stray runaway thoughts brought up by the alcoholic drink. And he got jabbed straight back, with a drawn whine, at how his own cheeks had flushed.

Only, he probably wasn’t thinking of the same woman with the volumed body as Jongup perhaps had in mind, burned into the back of his brain from when he’d accidentally - or not - run into Himchan’s stash of Playboy magazines.

(Junhong’d never tell what, who, was on his mind, with his wide smile and warm eyes.)

“You.”

Junhong jumped at the hand that came down on his shoulder, stopping him in his steps as he chased after his brother and the dragged Himchan. He twisted with an aim to scream and kick nuts, but paused seeing the excited face of one of the people he’d seen by the edge of the stage earlier - the one that had stood out so much, with his pressed tux in the middle of a warm of tightly fit young adult skinnies and loosely fit sweats.

Was it a fan?

Looking to his left caught Jongup’s attention, he’d been held back by the same man, one hand on Junhong and the other on his shorter counterpart.

“You boys are MOON N’ ZELO aren’t you?” His eyes were sparkling, like he’d uncovered a diamond in the cow stable.

He didn’t much let the two boys answer, pausing for just a second to catch his breath before continuing with an excited banter lighting his tone an octave above a screech. “My name is Kang Seokgu, but you guys can just call me Seokgu and see, I’m a scout from JOKO ENT.”

The man’s hands flopped excitedly in the air as he tried to squeeze the information he had at hand before the two boys ran out of attention span - which, Seokgu had found, didn’t take very long for two middle school boys to exhaust. He’d hoped that his company’s name would light a sort of feeling in the boys.

It only seemed to catch one of their attention.

But that was better than it being none.

“JOKO ENT.?”

Junhong looked at Jongup, whose shoulders had risen in surprise at the name. Funny, Junhong didn’t quite catch as much the reason to be so surprised nor excited. It was a company - a weirdly named one at that. So what?

At Junhong’s enthusiasm, Jongup shook, jabbing his friend with an elbow. “JOKO ENT. They’re one of the biggest entertainment companies around. They say every group that they debut will absolutely get famous. Even their trainees each have a fanbase of over several thousand before they debut!”

Jongup didn’t get much of a reaction back.

He deadpanned, giving Junhong an unbelievable look.

Did Junhong live under a rock or something?

“Do you know who UNTOUCHABLE are?” Seokgu offered politely, pleased that at least one of them new who they were - they hadn’t debuted new idols in a while, but it seemed they hadn’t fallen out of interest of the younger generations just yet.

This time, there was a significant enough interest. “Yeah, I mean, who the hell doesn’t?” Junhong paused, frowning, then gaping. “Wait, don’t tell me-,” he broke off, turning to his shorter friend who gave his a slap to the arm. It just have been a teenage thing, to keep hitting each other. “No way!”

“Yes way!”

Seokgu smiled, nodding.

The middle aged man quickly dug into his pocket, drawing out his wallet and from there two business cards with his name and company numbers. When he’d come to the tiny dance competition, he surely hadn’t expected to pick up anyone special. He hadn’t expected someone like MOON N’ ZELO to be around such a small scale competition. What had been even more absurd was that they hadn’t taken the grand.

(There was definitely something fishy going on offstage.)

“This is my card, and my number. Call at any time if you decide to join us. We’ll set up a interview process with the big boss. She’ll love you both, I’m sure of it. You’re both amazing, just the sort that Ms. Yoo is looking for!” Seokgu looked excited. Perhaps he could finally look forward to getting that raise he’d wanted for so long. “I’ll look forward to hearing from you soon, alright? … uh, …”

He paused. He’d only knew them as MOON N’ ZELO. Ms. Yoo definitely wouldn’t be too pleased to hear back from him just a pair of stage name that may or may not be a constant for the two. Names, he needed to bring back names - and a definite yes if he could, but the boys looked young, they’d need parental permission.

“Jongup,” the shorter one answered with overriding enthusiasm, “I’m Jongup and this is Junhong.”

Seokgu smiled. “Good! Well, I’ll look forward to hearing from you boys soon!”

Just as the man faded away in the distance, Jongup gave a sort of shout, turning toward his friend to express his excitement - his joy! - at the request of meeting. Only, Junhong’s earlier burn of twinkle seemed to have worn off.

“Not excited?” It was more of a demand than a question. How could Junhong not be?”

“Eh. Not exactly my dream to be an idol,” Junhong shrugged. “They’re all makeup and scripts.” Fake. Fake, fake, fake. Junhong didn’t want to be fake.

Jongup rolled his eyes, shouldering his friend with a huff. “You’re such a negative spirit.” He ignored the sound of complaint. “I know this company. This kid Himchan used to babysit, his aunt is the big boss lady. And plus, I haven’t ever heard anything bad about this company in particular before, have you?”

Junhong was stuck here. Because he hadn’t.

JOKO ENT. had a clean history. Perhaps too clean.

It reeked of something Junhong couldn’t quite place.

“I mean, think of it this way. Yongguk looked proud today, right?” Jongup didn’t need to continue for the words to complete itself in Junhong’s head.

If he was this excited, this proud, today, on such a tiny stage, how excited would he be for a larger, bigger crowd. His smile would practically tear off his face from all the joy and excitement.

It had Junhong smiling in return, in a sort of future sight of the future - of what could be the future.

And for sure, he was interested now.

“,” he breathed under his breath. “That’d be nice, that’d be very nice.”

“And we could make all the money we want. Double plus, we’d get paid to do what we like doing. Just imagine, getting paid for just having fun and dancing. The singing would just be a tiny plus, but hey, nothing’s perfect.”

Junhong could imagine it. The proud smile on Yongguk’s face as he climbed off stage with the shiny trophy from a music program. Triple crowd. His brother would smile, all big and wide, and he’d open his arms wide for Junhong to hop in, showering him in hugs, kisses and love.

And the best part yet, he’d have the undevoted attention of his brother. Nobody else to stand in the way.

“Hey! You guys coming?”

He snapped to attention at the familiar call of his brother from the other end of the field, now a lot more less conjugated to how it’d been before, when Junhong could barely move without brushing up against someone random in the crowd. Yongguk was quite the distance away, nearly to the parking lot, with Himchan’s head tucked between his arms in a loose headlock not meant to hold the funny looking man up in any way.

Junhong smiled, hollering back.

He tucked the business card he’d gotten a minute back into his back pocket and sprinted after the call, daring Jongup to try and run faster than he could.

The company could wait until tomorrow. Tonight was dedicated solely to Yongguk.

Yongguk and the stage.

The stage, spotlight, where Yongguk shinned all the more brightly.

Junhong was proud to call his brother his.

He was sure it worked the other way around as well.

(He may or may not have gotten a bit of that thing Himchan mentioned.

And it may or may not have resulted to Yongguk cradling the sobbing younger brother the next morning, humming soft “It’s okay”s and angrily texting his friend for feeding his baby brother poison.)

a/n: i almost forgot about update today.

so my finals finally ended. and it's the summer vacation ~ whoo. and while hopefully i'll be able to write more - maybe i'll finally actually get chapters written in advance and be able to double update again - there's a bigger chance that the summer will end up being busier than the spring semester. mer. 

speaking of busy. i may or may not be able to update the next week. i have a club workshop to attend to and i'll be away on that for the whole week. 

+ if anyone's confused about the win system. there's the grand winner, which is like first place. and then gold. then silver. bronze. at least, that's how the system at my school worked and i stole it because mer. 250,000 won 250 dollars. more or less. (less than more) and i think that's it. hope you enjoyed. i'll see to maybe getting another chapter done before i go to my workshop.