When Youngjae first entered TS Entertainment, he was told to watch Yongguk's performance with Jieun because that is the guy who TS would build a boy group around. He agreed to check it out. He watched it and thought that the strong rap matched so well with Jieun's voice. Admittedly though Youngjae was kind of mesmerized with Jieun, she was so pretty and exactly Youngjae's ideal type, reminding him a little of the noona he had dated a while back. Youngjae always fell for older girls for some reason.

Later on, Youngjae was called into the studio by his manager who said he'd meet Yongguk. Once he entered the room, he saw someone sitting in front of the sound system with his back facing Youngjae, he assumed that was Yongguk, talking to their CEO and producers.

The CEO noticed Youngjae and called him over. "Good, you're here Youngjae. We were just talking about you." said the CEO. Youngjae walked over and bowed to them, glancing at Yongguk, who's only acknowledgment of him was a brief nod towards him with a straight face. The first thing Youngjae noticed was that Yongguk looked about the same height as him and was quite skinny, nothing like his voice or persona on stage that he had observed in the "Going Crazy" performance earlier.

"We have big plans for you guys and Yongguk here will lead you well, make sure to follow his lead, allright?" The CEO said and Youngjae nodded mumbling a "Yes sir.". The CEO, producers, and Yongguk kept talking for a bit more while Youngjae awkwardly stood around not knowing what to do, if he should leave or stay.

"Ok, we will leave you two to it for now. Great to have you on board Youngjae, our so needed main vocal." Youngjae muttered thank you and bowed again as the CEO and producers left. Then as the door closed, Youngjae looked at Yongguk expectedly but Yongguk didn't say anything to him or acknowledge him at all, still messing with the sound system in front of him. Did Yongguk forget he was there, Youngjae wondered to himself in annoyance.

Youngjae wasn't the type to be ignored though. He loudly cleared his throat. "AHEM, AHEM" which made Yongguk glance around as if looking for the source of the sound then landing his eyes on Youngjae finally. Youngjae couldn't believe it, the guy really seemed to have forgotten he was still there.

Well now that at least he had Yongguk's attention, he went on to try to start a conversation. He was going to be in the same group as this guy, he might as well start on the right foot and try to be friendly at least.

"So....-" Youngjae started and just as the awkward pause was getting longer since Youngjae didn't know what to say anymore as Yongguk was looking at him, Yongguk interrupted the akward pause with "Are you serious about this?" while looking at him intensely.

Youngjae was taken aback. "What? ..sorry, serious about what?" he asked because he had no idea what Yongguk was talking about all of a sudden.

Yongguk sighed impatiently "About being in this group? Being our main vocal? Because we only need people who are serious and not here just to mess about or just for the fame." Yongguk said looking at him straight in the eyes as if he will find the answer there himself.

Youngjae after understanding what Yongguk meant was instantly offended. "Of course I am serious! Singing is my only passion in life, please don't take me so lightly!" Youngjae huffed. It was only their first meeting and this guy was already on his case. Youngjae was starting to have a bad feeling about this.

"Great, but actions speak louder than words, so you will have to prove it." Yongguk says turning his back to Youngjae again.

"I will!" Youngjae responds. He wasn't going to let this guy intimidate him out of realizing his dream of debuting as an idol singer.

"Now, if you'll excuse me I am going to go back to vocal practice." Youngjae said and turned to leave in anger, even though he had a feeling Yongguk had already tuned him out and gone back to the sound system.

~

That interaction had left a big impact on Youngjae, one he wouldn't forget for a while. But it also re-ignited his passion after leaving JYP to come to TS Entertainment. Since that day, Youngjae had practiced like crazy. He was taking vocal lessons and at the studio daily. He got to meet the other members, Himchan, Jongup, and Junhong. They all seemed nice and he got along with them fine, unlike Yongguk. Himchan was a hyung, who was the same age as Yongguk but he was so childlike and fun to be around and an obvious visual. Jongup had been training the longest out of them all and was good at singing and dancing. Junhong was the cute maknae, who was great at dancing and rapping.

All of s were doing so well, and Youngjae was starting to feel the pressure and burden as the main vocal. It was difficult adjusting to their group's supposed style. Youngjae didn't want to dissapoint s and he still had to prove himself like he had promised. Some of the songs he was given to practice did not match his style of singing and he was having a difficult time with all of the high notes he was asked to do.

~

After one long day in the studio of singing the same verse over and over again, Youngjae excused himself to the bathroom. He splashed water on his face and was doing a breathing exercise he was taught by his vocal teacher, when he heard someone walk in. He turned his head and saw it was the last person he wanted to see in this vulnerable state, Yongguk. Youngjae cursed under his breath. He didn't want to show Yongguk any weaknesses. He quickly turned to leave and felt Yongguk's hand on his shoulder stop him. Youngjae wasn't in a mood to hear Yongguk's criticism now after he had already heard enough from the producers about how bad his singing had been. He was just about to say this to Yongguk when Yongguk started talking.

"Hey, I know it's been tough on you today, but everything's gonna be allright, ok. I know you can do it!" Yongguk said surprisingly gently in his deep voice while tapping him on his back. Youngjae was so taken aback that he forgot to reply and the moment passed as Yongguk went to the bathroom stall to do his business. After recovering from what he had just happened, Youngjae cleared his throat and muttered a thanks before leaving.

After the bathroom encounter when Youngjae went back to the studio, he ended up acing the line he had been stuck on. "Great job Youngjae! That was perfect, excatly what we needed. You should have done it like that from the beginning," said the PDs.

~

To Youngjae's pleasant and welcome surprise, their group got another member who would be the main vocal and handle a lot of the high notes that Youngjae had been struggling with, a guy from Busan name Daehyun. Youngjae was so happy to have Daehyun. He could finally be more relaxed now instead of being tense all the time due to the pressure of being the main vocal. 

Youngjae did notice that Yongguk seemed to be less harsh on Daehyun though than he had been with him, which Youngjae was happy about because he liked Daehyun but it also made him wonder about what had made Yongguk be so harsh on him when he had first joined the group. Was it because Yongguk thought he was lacking as a vocalist? This thought bothered him a little, but he let it go to concentate on more important things like preparing for their upcoming debut. 

Youngjae soon got really busy with preparations for their debut. They filmed their reality show, they had a showcase, they released their "Warrior" MV and interviews and performances. They just naturally fell into their routine and roles in the group. Youngjae was the smart and sassy guy in the group who wasn't afraid to give it back to anyone including their "scary" leader, Yongguk. As Youngjae got to spend more time with Yongguk and even sleep in the same shared room (all six of them had to share a room), Youngjae started to drop some of the pent up feelings he had towards the elder. It also helped that Jongup had told him how before Youngjae joined the group, there were many who came and practiced with them for a little while but then left them shortly after, so Yongguk was really protective of the group and wanted to make sure Youngjae wouldn't do the same, which explained Yongguk acting the way he did during their first meeting. His mind started to become more open towards Yongguk. In actuality, Yongguk wasn't really scary but a gentle person. However, there was an aura around him that did put people at a distance and made them careful. Youngjae felt that aura too of course, so even Youngjae was more careful around Yongguk than he was with others.

~

After their debut, B.A.P went to Singapore as their 1st overseas event. Although Youngjae loved it there and had the time of his life, the aftermath was horrible for Youngjae. After that trip when Youngjae went to check his SNS account, he was bombarded with photos of him that weren't the most flattering. He looked at one photo in particular and felt he needed to go on a diet ASAP. He had been too careless, eating ice cream and desserts with Daehyun. He was also being called "Youngjae pabo" and felt like the of jokes. 

After getting back to Korea, Youngjae went on a strict carb free diet. He hated it! He couldn't eat ramyun or rice or anything that he liked. During their rehearsal breaks as everyone was eating chicken or some other fast food, Youngjae would be eating salad by himself in the corner. Or sometimes he would just skip food alltogether and stay in the pratice room by himself because it was easier than having to be tortured with smelling the food and seeing everyone else eat what he wanted to eat. During these moments, he felt really lonely hearing the chatter of everyone else enjoying the food while he was by himself. 

One day Youngjae was by himself in the vocal practice room with his grumbling stomach feeling depressed when the door opened and in walked Yongguk with a bowl of ramyun that he put in front of Youngjae. 

"Eat up," he said with his hand on my back.  

"I am on a diet hyung," Youngjae replied followed by more growling of his stomach. Yongguk smiled his gummy smile after hearing that.

"Nothing is going to come from starving and isolating yourself like this. Fans don't want you going this far either. Come on, eat up. I know you're hungry." Yongguk said pushing the bowl towards him again. 

Honestly Youngjae was hungry and he had been craving ramyun for days so it wasn't going to take much to convince him with his grumbling stomach and the bowl of ramyun right in front of him. But Youngjae had to just pretend to be hesitant because of his pride. He turned his face away from the bowl and tried to pretend to pay attention to the music sheet in his hand. 

"Youngjae!" Yongguk said in his stern voice that he did not use often. 

"Allright, allright if you insist, I'll eat it geesh." Youngjae said as Yongguk knew he would. After seeing Youngjae start to stuff his face with the ramyun, Yongguk happily retreated from the room considering his job done. 

Youngjae eventually lost all signs of his baby fat naturally (except the little that was left around his stomach area that was only noticed by fans when his shirt rode up). But Youngjae would continue to be constantly reminded of those days with articles that included his Singapore photos in segments of "idols before and after diets" circulating on Naver.

~

Yongguk and Youngjae didn't talk much but they became more comfortable in their roles and routines on variety shows and interviews. They knew each other's strengths and weaknesses. And Youngjae found that whenever he was going through a tough time, Yongguk would come through and help him out like the reliable leader he was. Youngjae came to have great respect for Yongguk and that kept growing as he kept getting to know him more. Yongguk was a great person and a reliable leader but he wasn't the type to talk much with the members on their private time, except Himchan at times. He would keep to himself a lot. Youngjae sometimes wondered where the leader was and what the leader was doing when he wasn't with them, but that was as far as his mind would go, or he would allow it to go. 

~

~

Youngjae was always finding out things about Yongguk that he didn't know before. There were times when Yongguk would surprise Youngjae. One time in an interview they were asked who they would date if they were a girl and to Youngjae's surprise Yongguk answered Youngjae because he was smart. Youngjae was embarrassed and felt super awkward at the sudden attention from the leader who had always picked Daehyun in these types of things, but he didn't have much time to think it over as he had to think of his own answer soon.

~

Another time during a radio interview, Youngjae was asked why he kissed Zelo and Youngjae said he just couldn't help it he sometimes found the maknae so cute and the host had said he should stop and given the example of what would Youngjae do if Yongguk suddenly came to Youngjae and kissed him because he found him cute. Youngjae heard everyone cringe and say they didn't want to think about it. He found his face turning even more red himself and he hid his face and didn't want to even think about such an awkward encounter.

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Author's note:

Idk where this is going or if it works well together. It's kind of like a combination of reality and fiction. It's just the beginning. Bangjae have much further to go, so we will see, the story might change, but this is what I have so far. Consider it a draft.