Prompt no: #134
Prompt: Mark's girl cousin loves the duo JJP. Mark is forced to accompany his cousin to the concert and he won't admit that after the concert, he might have a little crush on one of the duo.
Title: Before This Song Ends
Author: parkjunihoe (Twitter)
Side pair: none
Rating: PG
Word count: 2.6k

As much as Mark loved summer time, he could do without the humidity. Normally, on a day like today, he could beat the weather by blasting the AC in the house or taking a dip in his backyard pool. Instead, he was stuck outside, sticky and sweaty while waiting in line for something he didn’t even want to go to.

Mark still didn’t understand why he had to chaperone his cousin and drive her to this concert. After all, Emily was sixteen now. When Mark was sixteen, he was going out on his own all the time (and hotboxing in his best friend’s car, but his family didn’t know to know about that). Still, apparently Emily wouldn’t be allowed to go to the concert without someone to watch over her, so Mark’s mother volunteered him to be the responsible one.

Mark sighed, wiping at the sweat on his forehead. He could be playing Overwatch in an air-conditioned house but instead he’s stuck in the hot sun surrounded by teenage girls giggling and chatting about how Jaebum is so hot, no Jinyoung is hotter, this album is their best yet, do you think they’ll perform Icarus?

Mark glanced down at his phone to check the time. It was still another fifteen minutes before they would start letting people in. “Remind me why we had to line up three hours ago when we have assigned seats?” he sighed, checking his back pocket to make sure he still had his ticket. His aunt and uncle might have paid for it, but he would still rather go home or the mall or just about anywhere else.

His cousin folded her arms, huffing. “Because I want to buy merch and I already know the line is gonna be ridiculous so I want to be near the front of the line to get in. Besides, we have to get our hi touch wristbands.”

Mark blinked. “I’m sorry, our what?”

“Hi touch. We get to see JJ Project up close and meet them after!”

“Is that why these tickets were like 200 bucks each? I mean I guess if you get to meet them and chat, it makes sense.”

“Well, it goes quick,” Emily clarified, her smile fading slightly. “You go up to them and hi five them and…that’s pretty much it. You can say something quick but staff usually makes you hurry along.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” He yelled louder than he meant to, startling the two girls in front of them in line. Mark gave them an apologetic look and lowered his voice. “200 dollars to touch some guy’s hand for half a second? That’s insane.”

“Shhh! It’ll be so worth it. Besides, these tickets were the top price tier so they’re the best seats,” she said matter-of-factly.

Mark rolled his eyses, wiping away at the sweat on his forehead. It was too damn hot and the air was stifling, like Mark was trapped in a sauna with no exit. He prayed the inside of the venue had the AC blasting but he already knew that it was a concert, and that meant a lot of screaming and a lot of body heat. He had to mentally prepare himself.

It felt like an eternity before the doors opened, the line moving forward at a sluggish pace. Mark reached into his pocket for his ticket, glancing around at the line. There were very few guys going to this thing; Mark assumed most of them were there with their girlfriends and had also been dragged along by a sibling or something. He hoped that the concert wouldn’t be long; he’s already had to sacrifice half of his day off dealing with traffic, humid weather, and finding a parking spot for something he didn’t care about. At least his aunt and uncle gave him a little money for gas and food.

After getting their tickets checked at the door, Mark and his cousin were redirected to another table, where they had to get wristbands put on them for the hi touch session later.

“Please hold out your right wrist,” the girl behind the table instructed, holding up a neon yellow band.

Mark nearly told the girl behind the table not to bother but he didn’t want to come off as a jerk and just held his right wrist out limply.

“Enjoy the show!” she chirped, smiling brightly as she fastened the wristband on.

“Uh, thanks,” he managed to mumble, heading towards the doorway to the seats.

Mark glanced at Emily, raising an eyebrow when she was walking the opposite direction of the theater entrance.

“Don’t you wanna go find our seats?”

“I have to go to the merch counter first! I think they still have some lightsticks left.”

Before Mark could get another word out, she was already sprinting off for the massive line that had already formed. He sighed, unable to understand how she can go through all this for some Korean pretty boys, but Mark had to remind himself she was a teenager.

After trying to expertly weave through a sea of girls, Mark eventually found his seat. Emily didn’t lie about the seating arrangement. Their tickets put them super close to the stage, the speakers already playing what he assumed was one of the group’s songs while on stage, there was a huge projection reading “JJ PROJECT USA TOUR.” He pulled out his phone to send his friend a text, despite the terrible reception within the theater.

[sms: Youngjae] dude I’m stuck at this lame k-pop thing because of my cousin

He didn’t get a reply, either from the crappy cell service or because Youngjae was probably play games; both choices seemed equally feasible.

A few more minutes pass before Emily makes her way in, proudly showing off the lightstick she just bought. “I got one of the last ones!” she cheered, waving it near Mark’s face.

Mark rolled his eyes, pushing the lightstick away. “Wow, lucky you.”

“Hey, it’s a big deal!” Emily protested, elbowing Mark’s arm. “I’m trying to get JB to notice me and this will help.” She gestured to her homemade concert tee, just a plain white T-shirt that she wrote on with fabric paint, “JB” written in huge black letters and something written in Korean that Mark couldn’t decipher. “I hope he notices during hi touch and says something or at least smiles.”

Once the lights start to dim, Mark’s ears were immediately assaulted by the shrill shrieks of the females in the audience. The concert was finally getting started, an intro video playing on the screen before him. Even though it’s just a video, there’s so much noise that Mark plugged his ears. He had to admit the light effects were kind of cool, though he didn’t really understand all the shrieking around him.

The noise level shot even higher when the two boys appeared, standing center stage. Mark vaguely recognizes them from the posters in Emily’s room but he doesn’t know which is which until they introduce themselves. Mark noticed a translator standing off to the side, but JJ Project seemed to at least be trying to explain themselves in English as much as possible.

Mark had been skeptical about this whole thing. He never really had a lot of interest in Korean pop music and he definitely wasn’t familiar with any JJ Project songs so he felt extremely out of place. However, after the first song, he had to admit that they sounded alright and the song was catchy. What he wasn’t expecting was how in synch the two were with their choreography, particularly when they were mirroring each other.

He didn’t want to own up to it, but the two managed to catch his attention with their music and their performances. He might even download a couple of their songs after this, though he had no idea what the names of the ones he liked might have been. Emily was clearly having a great time, screaming and flailing her lightstick around. Every time JB came near their section, she would scream even louder. JB’s sharp eyes and piercings gave off something of a bad boy vibe, but Mark personally thought that the other one was more attractive.

What was his name again? Jin something? Well, whatever his name was, he had a nice look to him. He was handsome, with nice eyebrows, good body proportions, and a cute smile. Mark hadn’t meant to check either of the two out, but there was something about Jin…young? Yes, his name was Jinyoung. There was something about Jinyoung that just pulled him in. The guy had stage presence, with a nice voice and dance moves to back it up.

What really seemed to seal the deal was when things slowed down and he really heard the emotion in Jinyoung’s voice. There was a lot of emotion both in his tone and on his face. He always had this image of idols as overpaid pretty boys who put out underwhelming pop hits but there was something real here. The song made his heart feel like it was swelling in his chest and he couldn’t take his eyes of Jinyoung throughout the entire performance.

After the song ended, Mark found himself clapping, genuinely starting to enjoy himself. He went into this whole thing with a negative attitude, but he was starting to see the appeal of JJ Project. And after doing a slow, smooth ballad, the two were back at it with another dance track that seemed to give the entire theater energy. Everyone was going crazy so Mark reasoned it must be one of their big hits.

JB and Jinyoung had their own energy up as well, evident in their dancing and their wide smiles. Once the chorus started, Mark realized he had heard this song before. The shake it and shake it for me was familiar, probably something he heard while he was over at his cousin’s house. What happened next caught Mark off guard.

Jinyoung had moved closer to the edge of the stage and started, as the lyrics said, to shake it. Mark’s eyes immediately went towards the dancer’s and wow, how did he not notice how nice it was until now? He felt a little embarrassed, as if someone would catch him staring, but it was unlikely anyone was paying any attention to him. Mark may have imagined it, but he thought he saw Jinyoung wink playfully at him, or at least in his direction. Either way, his heart started pounding against his chest.

Mark wouldn’t have believed it but even though he couldn’t understand any Korean, he got really into the concert during the second half. He was cheering and jumping, which earned him a smug look from Emily, but he couldn’t be bothered to care. He hadn’t expected to come out of this whole thing as a fan of JJ Project, and yet there he was, just as enthusiastic as anyone else. While he thought JB was cool and talented as well, it was Jinyoung that got his heart rushing whenever he would come near their side of the stage.

The concert finally finished and Mark found himself thoroughly impressed by the end of it. The lights came on and he heard Emily sigh dreamily.

“That was everything I wanted and more. And now we’re going to get to see them.” She paused, eyes going wide. “Oh no. We’re going to see them!”

Mark raised an eyebrow.

“…Well yeah, that was the point of the tickets, right?”

Without explaining herself, Emily quickly opened her bag, pulling out a brush to smooth out her hair after all the jumping and jamming that had just happened. While they were lining up for the hi touch event, Emily was retouching her lip color. Mark noted his cousin wasn’t the only one, spotting several girls touching up their make up or fixing their hair.

As they were getting closer to the area for the hi touch, Mark found himself getting nervous. He was going to see them up close. He was going to see JJ Project, who he had literally become something of a fan of within the past hour and a half. He was going to see Jinyoung. Jinyoung.

His breath caught in his throat when he saw JB and Jinyoung standing behind a table, with a bunch of staff in the nearby vicinity. The hi touch definitely went fast, with barely enough time for a high five, but he did see JB and Jinyoung occasionally hold a fan’s hand.

When it was his turn, he didn’t know what to do or say. JB gave him a polite smile, holding his hand up. JB was better-looking up close, even though some of his stage make up had started to come off. Mark gave him a high five, and he couldn’t help feeling a little awkward.

Then there was Jinyoung. If he thought JB looked better this close, Jinyoung was just breath-taking. It felt like time had slowed down and suddenly Mark felt his stomach churning and heart pumping. He should say something, but what? Would Jinyoung even understand if he had anything to say?

He high fived Jinyoung’s hand, keeping their palms together for a moment. “I, uh—u-um,” Mark stammered, certain he was starting to blush at this point. He heard a staff member behind him yelling to “keep it moving” but Jinyoung just smiled, looking amused. “The show was…great.”

Seriously? Was that the best Mark could come up with?

But Jinyoung seemed to understand, just smiling a little wider before giving Mark’s hand a squeeze. “Thank you.”

Before he could get even more embarrassed, Mark practically ran towards the exit, where Emily was already standing.

“Well,” she grinned slyly, “it looks like someone has seen the light and appreciates JJ Project now.”

“They were okay,” Mark shrugged, trying to brush off the fact that he was planning to go home and research everything he could about Jinyoung.

“Uh huh. Anyway, JB loved my shirt and that’s all that matters!” she beamed. “And thanks for taking me. I’ve been wanting to see them for so long and it finally happened.”

Emily continued to talk about how fun the concert was, how they performed all her favorite songs and how hot JB was. She must have noticed Mark starting to tune out as he fished in his pocket for his car keys, because then she added, “But you seemed to like Jinyoung more anyway.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” he immediately denied, unlocking the car and getting in the driver’s seat.

“Oh, please! I saw the look on your face when he held your hand. Plus you kept yelling whenever he came over to our side,” she snickered, tugging her seatbelt on. “I don’t blame you. Jinyoung is hot, too. Not as hot as JB, but still.”

Mark didn’t confirm nor deny it. He pulled his phone out seeing no missed calls, but a text from Youngjae that finally came through now that he had service.

[sms] That >< hopefully it won’t be that bad?

Mark only smiled. Even though he had to drive through LA traffic, got stuck waiting for hours in the heat, was still waiting for his hearing to go back to normal, and would probably have no voice tomorrow, he decided it was worth it.

“I hope JJ Project comes back,” Emily pouted.

“Yeah,” Mark murmured, thinking back to Jinyoung’s smile and how soft his hands were and how deep and smooth his voice was when he spoke English. “Me, too.”