Yoongi's POV

--x--

Yoongi was Korean American. His parents had migrated to America just a few months before he was born, and they had both worked unbelievably hard to make sure he had the life he deserved. They had moved to a small town in Montana, being it one of the cheapest places they could find and it gave his father an opportunity to work in the mining industry. It was tough money, but it was what they could do to make his dreams possible. Ever since he was young his parents had always told him that it was ultimately up to him to chase his dreams, and to never look away from what he loved. They didn’t want him to settle on a future, they wanted him to live it to his best potential.

Yoongi discovered the arts when he was in middle school. Everyone was required to do a semester of choir, and while Yoongi definitely wasn’t the greatest singer anyone had ever heard, he fell head over heels in love with music. It was like he could hear every emotion ever felt by mankind, and it was the most beautiful thing he could experience.

At first, his parents were worried when he said he wanted to go into music. They had gone through a lot to get Yoongi where he was, and understandably they didn’t want him spending time and money on something that wasn’t going to give back even close to what he had put in. The music industry wasn’t easy. He assured them this was it, it was his dream. And they accepted him for that.

It was only a year after that when he discovered his passion for the piano. His mother managed to put him into classes paid by tips she made at the restaurant she worked for, and Yoongi learned as if he had been born to play. He believed he had.  His parents bought him his own keyboard when was 15, and he was writing songs ever since. The piano was Yoongi’s first true love, the way the keys felt against his fingers, how gently he would glide across them, and the endless amount of beautiful music he could make from them. Every emotion he felt was spelt out into notes.

“The piano keys are black and white but they sound like a million colors in your mind.” – Maria Cristina Mena

When Yoongi was 16 he was doing piano performances for small awards, trying to get recognized for a scholarship. That is when Yoongi realized his shared love for performing. The way the stage lit up the piano, making it more beautiful than he had ever seen it before, the feeling of sharing his music with a crowd of others who had come just to hear it. He had never felt such a sense of humble pride as he did when he was up on the stage, performing. Often he forgot he was performing until after the song was over, getting lost in the music. It was a carefree feeling, he felt like he was in the right place.

When Yoongi was 17, his father was severely injured during a mining accident. Yoongi played the piano at his funeral per request of his father who had been hospitalized before ultimately passing.

When Yoongi was 18 he was accepted into University of Las Vegas. After one of his performances, a man in a suit approached him and opened the offer, with a full ride to any program he wanted. He chose a Masters of Music; Concentration in Performance. He had raced home, running in and hugging his mother tighter than he ever had, excitedly blurting out the news. That was the first time he had seen her genuinely smile in a year.

He felt guilty, moving that far away from his mother, He felt like she had already lost so much recently. Him moving away wasn’t going to be easy on her. But she assured him that it was fine, that she had plenty of friends surrounding her. Ultimately, she wanted him to follow his dreams. So he did. When he was 25, he was graduating with his Masters, and was already working under one of the largest production companies in the city. He spent his days in different venues, making sure everything was perfect for the many different performances. His life up until that point had always been about music and his work, not that he minded. His heart was full of those two things and he didn’t need anything else.

His first big assignment after graduating came short after the summer. School season had started back up again and he was assigned to go recruit some of the upperclassmen from the dance program at UNLV. His company did this often, they didn’t have to pay students as high as they did graduated professionals, and the students fought to have a spot on stage so they could get their talent out there. He had a few group and solo performances set up to watch, and then he would decide who he wanted to take in as background dancers.

Yoongi’s heart was filled with music and his job. He felt as if there was no room left, until he met Park Jimin.

Jimin's POV

--x--

He had woken up with more nerves than he imagined he’d felt. He had only been in the United States for a couple weeks, and he already had his first audition. Sure it was an open audition, he hadn’t directly been asked to come and dance but it was exciting nonetheless. He was only going to do a routine he had learned a while back, he just hoped it would ultimately be enough. His roommate was also a transfer and one of his life long friends, Jung Hoseok. He was a dance major just like Jimin, unlike Jimin however he was a 4th year student. And he was also going to be auditioning for the background dancer gig.  

Jimin cooked them a bit of breakfast in their small single wall kitchen, making eggs on top of their single burner stove as Hoseok got showered for the day. They had been friends for as long as jimin could remember, living next to each other probably since birth. It had been Hoseok’s idea to study abroad, and Jimin knew it was the opportunity his heart had been craving for. Jimin had been iffy about the location of choice, he wasn’t a big party kid and he was nervous that’s all it would be. Eventually his best friend had won him over.

It’s a city full of entertainment. If you want to work in the entertainment industry, this is it Jimin.

He shook his head as he thought back on it. Hoseok had, of course, been right, and so far he had loved every second of it. They were only minutes from the strip, though they had only gone for about an hour the first night. As transfer students they had a long to work on when they first got there and it left them very little time to do what they had wanted and explore the city. Plus Jimin wanted to make a group a friends to go and explore with.

The culture shock wasn’t too bad, though it was still there. Hoseok spoke good enough english to get by, but Jimin was still pretty rusty. Hoseok could tell just how worried Jimin was about making friends when he couldn’t even speak the language, and so he signed the both of them up to join the Korean club. They had made a few friends there after their first meeting two days ago, and so all Jimin could do was hope that things would work out on their own.

“Hey what is that god awful smell?!” He heard Hoseok exclaim as the bathroom door flew open and Jimin was pulled from his  daydreaming to realized the eggs had started to burn. He cursed softly and moved the pan to the sink, dumping the eggs in and turning the water on.

“ sorry… want to go out for some food?” he turned back to the other with a guilty look, and was met with a slow nod from the other male.

“You okay?” Hoseok questioned as he leaned down to pull his shoes on and it was Jimin who nodded back this time. They never asked the other if they were nervous before auditions or performances, they felt like it was bad luck. But it was an unspoken agreement this time, they both were nervous. Jimin pulled his shoes on and grabbed his bag before following the older male out the door and toward the school food court.

Yoongi's POV

--x--

It was a hot day in Vegas, but Yoongi had grown more and more used to the heat the longer he had lived there, it was in the desert after all. He had woken up early for work, it was his first day going after graduation and he finally felt like he had completely accomplished something major in his life. He had been working hard for 6 years for the master’s degree and now that he had it, things were finally going to work out for him. He had a meeting at the corporate office this morning, which was good because both the office and his condo were in the downtown area. If it wasn’t for the brutal heat he would have walked, but he opted for getting his car and driving the few blocks to the office. Vegas was an amazing city the first few months to a year you lived here, not that he hated it or anything now, the wow factor had just gone away. He became notably more aware of how dirty the city was when it came to be away from main tourist attractions. But the rent was surprisingly cheap and the entertainment business was booming there more than it could have been anywhere else.

He proudly  made his way into the building, a credentialed man who felt nothing but pride for his achievements. They were starting works on a new production today, and Yoongi had high hopes that he’d finally be able to do something that wasn’t just prepping the soundtrack and preparing the stage. It wasn’t that he necessarily hated the jobs that had been paying his bills, but when you had people in the music business calling you a prodigy and you possessed a Master’s degree, it just wasn't rewarding to do entry level work.

There were a few coworkers already in the meeting room when he went in, taking his seat and fiddling with his phone while more shuffled in until the table was full. The meeting went smooth, and everyone was getting handed their different assignments when Yoongi was finally given a breakthrough in his career with the company. He was assigned to go recruit background dancers from the University, and to work directly with the choreographer to make sure everything was going to be perfect for the stage. Alongside that he had been asked if he could possibly produce a piano  song for them to play while the curtains closed. He was much obliged.

 He had auditions at 10:30, so he hopped in his car and drove through for a coffee before making his way to the college campus. He hadn’t expected to be back on the campus as soon as he was, he had only been out of school for a couple of days at this point. But he couldn’t deny that it wasn’t a bad feeling, he was there for his first real big job as a productions manager and he was proud.

Coffee in hand, he made his way to the dance center, excited to see the different performances. There was a crowd coming out of the door when he got there, but he wasn’t surprised. You could be easily spotted and picked up by a company from background dancing, almost all dancing majors came to every audition. It was money, and a way to get their name out there. He went into the building and greeted the event’s choreographer before took his place next to the man at the judge’s table.

A few auditions ran through but nothing that really shocked Yoongi or blew him away. None of them had been bad, they were all dance majors it’s not like they would have been giving less than beautiful performances. However, he wanted something to knock him off his seat, to give him a wow factor. Yoongi got what he wished for.

The boy looked like he would be a bit shorter than Yoongi, but his ultimate frame was smaller, more slender from all the cardio of dancing. He had to be younger too. Yoongi glanced down at his file for a second and couldn’t help but smirk. He was a third year, a transfer student from Busan, South Korea. Yoongi had spoken Korean at home to his parents, respectively. But he couldn’t imagine what it would be like to go across the world and study there. The kid was brave, he was going above and beyond to chase his dream. Not to mention that based off the headshot provided, he was pretty cute. He looked back up again once the music had started. At first, Jimin had appeared nervous. But as soon as he made his first move, Yoongi could feel the passion. Jimin danced like it was a competition to keep his life, but it wasn’t forced or uncomfortable looking. Everything was more than graceful, he glided into every move. He was just much as in love with dance as Yoongi was with music, and it touched him to see. He was unbelievably talented, and yoongi instantly scribbled down. “Immediate hire.” on his paper. He glanced over at the choreographer who was judging with him and saw he had done the same.

His audition ended and the entire rec room had erupted with applause. He bowed low before realizing he didn’t need to in the states and getting a bit flustered. Yoongi thought it was cute. He hurried off to the changing room and the auditions continued with more average performances. Maybe some of them were better than he was giving them credit for but he just couldn’t get his mind off what he had seen. Passion was Yoongi’s weakness, and Jimin had it.

After all the auditions had finished, Yoongi and the choreographer spoke over which auditions they enjoyed most and which ones they wanted to hire, most of their opinions were completely aligned. The auditionees were called back into the rec center and one by one the 6 chosen were called forward and the rest were dismissed.

There were three girls and three guys, one of which without a doubt had been Park Jimin.

Jimin's POV

--x--

Jimin and Hoseok had both shown up early to the audition, but yet still managed to run into a crowd at the dance center. Jimin wasn’t one to judge, almost everyone was bound to come to these kind of auditions, and knowing that they only had 6 available spots he tried to keep an open mind that if he didn’t get in, it was okay. Hoseok squeezed the smaller male shoulder’s in a way as if to say, ‘we can do this’. Eventually the doors opened and they walked into the rec room, the biggest space for them to all huddle together for the auditions. The choreographer and the productions manager introduced themselves as the judges and started to explain what they would be looking for in each performance.

“He’s kind of cute.” Jimin leaned in to whisper to Hoseok in Korean, who wrinkled his nose.

“The bald white guy?” He whispered back, which earned a snort from Jimin that he hoped wasn’t too audible.

“The production manager stupid, think he speaks Korean?”

“Why, are you gonna approach him?” hoseok raised an eyebrow but Jimin just shrunk his body down a bit and shook his head. Jimin hadn’t come here to flirt with random men, he had come to dance. Eventually auditions started and Jimin nerves got worse and worst. Hoseok went first, flawlessly of course. Jimin praised him excitedly when he got back to the seat, proud of  his best friend.  When his name was called his made his way to the marker and softly introduced himself before the music started.

And then he was lost, in a completely different word than the one he had been in before the music began. As soon as the first note hit his ears, he was moving through the dance like it was second nature. Because it was. Dance was his passion and he loved it more than he thought he could ever love something. It was the only thing he could ever imagine doing with his life, and that was why he was there. He glided gracefully through the whole song before it finally ended and his ears were then filled with the sound of applause. Everyone had been clapped for at the end of their audition, but it still gave him a warm feeling in his chest. Naturally he bowed down a full 90 degrees before realizing it was a thing that wasn’t commonly expressed in their culture and he straightened up with a blush. He hurried his way back to the seats, chewing at the inside of his cheek.

Hoseok assured him, patting his back. Every performance was amazing, all he students were in their third or fourth year so they were experienced dancers, and it was going to be tight for the judges he was sure. After all the auditions were finished they were all excused out of the auditorium temporarily so the judges would be able to properly decide on the lucky 6.

“I hope you make it Hoseok, you did so good.” Jimin said with a gentle smile.

“Me? The judges would be stupid if they didn’t pick us both.” Hoseok snorted. He was always so positive, Jimin wondered how he didn't exhaust himself with all that positivity. He was about to say something when they were called back into the building and his nerves silenced him. They all sat down in their respective places as the judges stood up on the stage and announced that they would be calling out the names of the six chosen, asking that they please joined them on stage so they could discuss the opportunity. Just as Jimin had stiffened nervously in his seat and closed his eyes, he heard his name being announced.

“Go, go!” Hoseok pushed his shoulder a bit to get him up and Jimin stumbled his way toward the stage, the next people announced following.

Halfway to the stage he heard Hoseok’s name announced and the other cheer excitedly, soon joining him up on the stage. There was three girls and three guys chosen and they were given a time and date to meet up, so they could start practicing the choreography. They were released and Jimin still felt like he was walking on clouds as they exited out into the hot Nevada air.

“We have to go celebrate! I’ll ask a couple people from the club so you don't have to worry about language and we’ll make plans hm? This is great!” Hoseok went on and on in Korean, getting a few odd glances from people they walked passed from how loud he was being but Jimin just laughed and agreed.

They made it safely back to their dorm and Hoseok called up a few people they had met in the Korean club a couple days prior while Jimin showered. Once he had gotten out, his roommate  had a huge smile on his face (though when did he not?) “Did you find someone to go with us?”

“I found five someones!” He stated proudly and Jimin’s eyes widened.

“You already made 5 friends after 2 days? I don’t know how you do it..” Jimin mumbled. He had always been the shyer of the two, especially now that they lived in the states and he couldn’t always use his native language.  

“Well I met this kid named Jungkook and i guess he has 2 other friends in the club that he hangs out with, and they have 2 friends who just graduated from here who they’re gonna ask to come as well. They all speak Korean so you’re gonna be fine.” He added the last in and Jimin smiled, falling back in his bed. He had been very scared to go across the world, but maybe things would work out. 

--x--

// a.n: Thank you guys for checking out the first chapter! this had come suddenly, but I have a lot of plans for it so I'm to update often. Please subscribe and leave comments so i know people are actually into my writing ;; there will be a bit of angst but im hoping to end it happily. thank you so much again! coughs can you guess who the 2 graduate people are? ot7 is coming i swear