i.
friends, right?"farewell, my love!" changkyun yells beside him, arm outstretched. the seagulls ahead flap their wings and fly away, towards the cruise ship on the sea. "come back safely!"
jooheon flinches and casts a look over the maknae. changkyun has launched in full soap-opera mode, clutching at his chest while doubling over. without questioning, he drapes an arm over changkyun's shoulder and copies his pose. "farewell, love! eat shrimpy snacks when you go!" the elder wails loudly, covering his mouth with his hand. the maknae lets out inhumane sounds and clings on to jooheon for dear life, crying out for the cruise ship on the sea.
behind them, hyungwon doubles over in laughter. kihyun stares at the rappers, trying to stifle a smile. the maknae line is at it again- where something clicks between them and now they're in perfect harmony- in this case, a random street drama. any passerby walking past the two gave them glances, curious at the cameras waving around and the dramatic duo. leave it up to them to attract unwanted attention.
kihyun, from a few meters away, calls out to them. "guys, stop. people are looking at us," he pleads. hoseok appears from behind and watches the scene. "you guys are being really loud."
neither changkyun nor jooheon cared. they continued to wail, hands grabbing the empty air beyond the railing. people from the cruise ship gather outside, watching the two idiots in curiosity from the far distance. seagulls continue to flutter into the air. hoseok grins from his place, but cringes internally.
"please make them stop."
changkyun is pretty much jooheon's favourite person. wherever they go, they're always side by side- jooheon will have an arm thrown over changkyun's shoulders, or changkyun would lean on jooheon's side. if jooheon's standing around by himself, hands in pockets and gazing somewhere, the maknae appears out of nowhere and stands next to him, ready with a pun or nonsensical jokes. when they're seated together in the van or in restaurants, they're almost always sharing earphones or giggling on their phones.
"it's almost like you guys are dating," hoseok chuckles, a playful glint in his eye. he's leaning on his elbows, kihyun's covers thrown over his legs.
jooheon glares at him from his bed, pen poised atop a notebook. "no we're not, hyung. changkyunnie is just really fun to be with. unlike some people," he adds under his breath. hoseok chucks a scrunched tissue at his face.
"oi, i'm still your hyung."
jooheon gives him a cheeky dimpled smile.
there's silence once more as the rapper retreats to his notebook, tapping his pen against the spiral bound. half of the page is littered with scribbles, crossed out lines and doodles- lyrics from yet another song that him and changkyun are composing. he hums to himself the half-formed melody of the song, scanning the lyrics he's written. maybe he's done with his verse. needs a little bit more tweaking. then it could be time for changkyun to come into the song.
while he's still deep in lyric writing, hoseok breaks the silence. "what's that?" the vocalist asks, tilting his head. "lyrics?"
jooheon nods without lifting his head. "yeah. changkyunnie and i made a new song the other day." his hand gestures vaguely in the air. "i'm actually waiting for him to come back so we can work on this together."
"oh. he's probably here by now," hoseok says, checking his phone. "he texted two minutes ago or something. do you want me to, uh, leave?"
"what? no, why?"
"i don't know. i might be interrupting something?" a greasy wink punctuates his sentence. jooheon scrunches his nose.
"ugh. if you're going to be like that, you might as well leave now." he gives hoseok another dimply smile and receives an eye roll in reply.
"fine. be that way." hoseok removes the blankets off himself and slides off the bed. his mouth is open, ready to retort something when someone bounds into the room.
"oh, speak of the devil," the elder says. changkyun doesn't acknowledge his presence, instead going straight for jooheon's bed. padding on socked feet, he dives into the sheets, rolls on top of jooheon ("umpf!") and buries his head under a pillow. the elder members in the room raise their eyebrows.
hoseok sits still for a few seconds, then stands up. mouthing the word boyfriends to jooheon, he leaves the room with a sly grin and softly closes the door, clicking the knob into place. the rapper shakes his head but returns back to his lyrics. picking up the pen, he begins tapping the pen against the book once more.
when jooheon is tasked to find his favourite person in the group, his mind rings back to their youngest immediately. changkyun's presence is constant around him and they're always together, so wouldn't it make sense if he's his favourite person? camera in hand, jooheon tracks down their maknae among the rooms in showchampion, pushing the door open to their waiting room. in it, minhyuk and hyungwon lie on the couches, mouth open in deep sleep. the sounds of soft breaths and keys clacking fill up the silent room. jooheon scans around to find the person he's looking for, then grins.
raising the camera, he turns it on and switches it to his face. he flashes the card next to his face for a few seconds. "so the mission is to find my favourite person," he says in a low voice. eyes flickering around the room, he steps over bags on the floor and approaches a table, where an open laptop sits. behind the screen sat changkyun, gaze focused on the laptop in front of him while he types out lines and lines of lyrics. the tapping of keys grows louder as jooheon walks closer, pressing the camera up changkyun's face. "if it's my favourite person, of course it has to be i.m."
at the mention of his name, the maknae lifts up his head. the large headphones he's wearing slip off his hair and land on his neck. changkyun blinks at the lens of the camera almost touching his nose, then raises his hands and pushes jooheon away. "too close, hyung. too close."
jooheon grins. "and this is changkyunnie, my favourite person." he turns around to set the camera on the table, adjusting it so it faces them, then pulls a chair next to the maknae and seats himself. "how're you doing today, maknae?"
"good." changkyun lifts his shoulders in a shrug. "why? what's this about?"
the other shows him his showchampion card. "backstage mission. you're my favourite person, so i'm interviewing you right now."
"aww, me?" changkyun places a hand on his heart. "bless you, hyung. i love you too."
jooheon grimaces, looking away. "ugh, okay." he clears his throat and scans the card. changkyun, out of curiousity, inches nearer and peeks as well, digging his chin into jooheon's shoulder. "oh, wait. i'm supposed to talk about you, never mind. the first question says why i chose you," the elder rapper reads.
changkyun turns to look at his eyes. innocence is painted all over his facial expression, twinkling eyes gazing at jooheon's dark ones. the elder rapper ignores his gaze and turns to focus on the camera. he clears his throat.
"why is he my favourite? well, you see, monsta x actually had a predebut survival show," he starts. changkyun removes himself from jooheon's shoulder and nods. "this friend here, he joined in very late... like, two rounds before the final. there was a, uh, problem with it, so at first we didn't get along really well. but then," jooheon glances sideways, "when i started talking to him, he turned out to be really fun. nice. loyal. and he listens to me well."
the maknae continues to nod at every statement, face solemn.
"we're always making raps together, so we got closer that way. i know pretty much everything about him, and he knows pretty much everything about me by now." jooheon grins, his dimples making an appearance. "he's a really great friend, honestly."
changkyun bobs his head, proud of the shower of compliments.
jooheon clears his throat again. raising the card to his face, he reads out, "and now my favourite part about you." he places the card down and squints his eyes. bringing two fingers up, he his chin in mock thought. "is there anything i like about you?"
their maknae rolls his eyes. "of course. everything." he ends his statement with a greasy wink.
jooheon gags. "you wish, kid." there's a tug at the corner of his lips. "i wouldn't say i like everything, but there's really nothing to change about you. i.m is always practicing his rap-" this he says to the camera "-and the only thing i'd say is to practice more. he's been improving a lot."
changkyun grins. the tips of his ears turn red and his neck flushes pink.
("him again, jooheon?" kihyun raises an eyebrow at his question, holding his phone in his hand. his phone screen is paused at the image of jooheon sitting next to changkyun from the other day, with his hands laced on the table. below them is a text box- "JOOHEON'S FAVOURITE: I.M". the rapper looks up at his hyung, then waves at him dismissively.
"yeah, of course. we're the bestest friends, don't you see?"
their main vocalist scoffs. "the way you're fawning over him, it sounds like it's more than that." kihyun forms a lopsided smirk, teasing him. "you sure it's only friends?")
jooheon worries his bottom lip with his teeth, eyes scanning the hangul in the script. it's his turn to be the special mc yet again- a blessing given by mbc and their darling monbebes. the script he's holding spans long, but his lines are mostly short. it's good. there won't be much to remember.
he puts the paper down on the table, sliding it away from him. even though it's not his first time doing this, jooheon feels butterflies rising in his stomach. excitement tingles from the top of his head to the tips of his fingers. he stares at the monitor on the wall, watching how the stage is empty, how the bright lights flicker. voices of the cameramen and the staff running around echo from the tv, contrasting the otherwise empty room. his leg bounces up and down.
jooheon plays with his fingers. what should he do now? there really isn't nothing to do but to wait- plenty of time to wait- and he could go over the script again and again. so he leans forward and reaches towards the table, pulling at the sheet of paper on top.
knock knock.
the rapper doesn't hear it at first.
"hyung?"
he pauses reading. "changkyun?"
the door knob turns. brown hair appears from the doorway, revealing their maknae in a black hoodie and dark jeans. when the door opens wider, he sees a paper bag that changkyun is carrying- starbucks. immediately, jooheon's face splits into a grin as he stands up to greet .
gesturing to the bag, he asks, "americano?"
their maknae nods.
jooheon high fives him. "yeah man," he says in english, bumping their shoulders. taking the paper bag from changkyun, he rummages for his coffee. "so what are you doing here?"
changkyun shrugs. "i wanted to come support you."
the elder sips his coffee through the straw. when he's done, he's grinning even wider. "yeah man!" they bump shoulders yet again. after jooheon takes another sip, he sets down both coffee and paper bag next to the script on top of the table. changkyun's eyes follow the movement and stops on the paper.
"is that the script?" he points down. jooheon hums.
"wanna take a look? come here." the rapper sits down on the couch, patting the space beside him. while changkyun plops down, jooheon grabs the piece of paper. "here."
their maknae leans on his shoulder, brushing his hair against jooheon's ear. like they always do when they're side by side, he snuggles closer to jooheon's side and perches his chin on the shoulder. the older of the two passes the paper to him. changkyun sighs in content.
"there isn't much you have to say, is there?" he remarks, skimming over the script. jooheon nods.
"it should be easy, but somehow i'm still nervous." when changkyun passes the paper back, he tosses it to the table. "i don't know, i keep on having butterflies in here." jooheon pats his tummy.
changkyun frowns. "don't worry hyung. you'll do great!" curling his hand over jooheon's, he takes them into fists and pumps it in the air. "fighting!"
the elder chuckles. cute. "thanks, thanks." his hands drop to changkyun's thigh. patting it fondly, he adds, "thanks for always supporting me."
red blooms on changkyun's cheeks. scratching behind his ears, he replies, "well...we're friends, aren't we?"
friends. jooheon's hand stills. that's...comforting to hear. even though they've been together- as a team- for some months, he'd never thought they'd get beyond the "groupmate" label this fast. some scars from no mercy still hasn't healed; jooheon is sharp enough to know that changkyun's guard is still up, that he can retreat to his shell as fast as he broke it. changkyun likes to fool around with his hyungs, like drawing on hoseok's face (and getting away with it) or loudly singing off-key alongside kihyun. hyungwon likes to pat his head, and hyunwoo lets changkyun snuggle up to him when they're sitting together. but changkyun's still vulnerable, still hiding parts of himself- he doesn't talk much about family at home, or his experiences living overseas, or the time between nu'bility and no mercy. things like that take jooheon on a guilt trip.
yet... changkyun refers to them as something else. they weren't mere partners, mere co-workers. friends.
changkyun lets out an "umph" as jooheon tugs him closer, wrapping another arm around his torso. with a slight height advantage, jooheon nuzzles into brown, mint-scented hair. "we're definitely friends."
"yep."
"..."
"also, why does your hair smell like my shampoo?"
the maknae shrugs. "dunno."
(hyungwon stares down at jooheon, leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed. his gaze is stern, but there's a hint of smugness in it- shown by the twitch of his eyebrows and slight lift of his lips. he uncrosses his arms and tucks them into his pocket, clearing his throat. the rapper glances up from his notebook.
"you and him seemed pretty friendly today," hyungwon declares. jooheon furrows his brows.
"who?"
"that guy." sticking out his thumb, hyungwon points to his left. "new guy."
"oh. him?" jooheon closes his book and tucks it underneath his pillow. "yeah, we wrote a rap and practiced together. so? what about it?"
"i don't know. what happened to not liking him, hmm?")
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