"Here, loser," Jae says, tossing Brian his melon milk when he walks into music class. The rest of the school day flew by, or at least it did to Jae who was completely distracted, just excited to see Sungjin again.

"Thank you," Brian sings with a cheeky smile,

"So, you have yet to tell us about yesterday," Wonpil says, nudging Jae and he fails at suppressing a smile, getting giddy at just the thought of the time he shared with Sungjin. Sungjin walks in class, spotting Jae and smiling at him,

"There's nothing to tell," Jae says and Brian laughs,

"You're just worried he'll hear,"

"Well, duh!"

"C'mon, he's like across the class, he's not gonna hear,"

"Why are you guys so curious?"

"'Cause you're interacting with your crush for once," Wonpil replies and Brian nods, sipping his melon milk,

"And we were asking you in the group chat yesterday, but you just disappeared,"

"Oh, 'cause we started texting," Jae says, giggling and Wonpil and Brian laugh, amused at the way Jae grabs his cheeks as he starts to blush,

"He's a lot nicer than I thought,"

"Did you think he was rude?" Wonpil asks,

"They started talking 'cause he punched Jae in the face," Brian points out and Wonpil nods with an "oh yeah" 

"Jae!" and that quickly hushes their conversation and they look up to see Sungjin walking toward their side of the class,

"Yeah?" and he sits up,

"Did you find anything in the pocket of my hoodie?" 

"Oh, no," Jae says,

"Ah, okay,"

"You should've texted me, I could've gone home during lunch to check,"

"Nah, it was nothing important, it probably fell out when we were running anyway,"

"Oh okay,"

"Sungjin!" Junhyeok calls and Sungjin looks at the guys for a quick bye, showing a small smile to Jae before jogging to Junhyeok who needed help untangling a patch cable and Dowoon was adjusting his ride cymbal so he didn't want to help.

"Dude, he's totally into you," Brian says once Sungjin's far enough and focused on helping,

"He is not!"

"He came over to talk to you about nothing, he probably just wanted to be near you,"

"Stop, he wouldn't, plus he had a genuine question!"

"And if Junhyeok didn't call him over that, what would y'all have talked about?" Wonpil points out,

"We're barely friends, y'all are just extra," Jae says,

"Oh really? Why was his sweater in your possession then?" and Jae rolls his eyes, knowing from his friends amused expressions that whatever reason he gives, they'll still nudge him and wiggle their eyebrows as if hinting to something that's supposedly going on between him and Sungjin. 

Mr. Lee walks in shortly after, takes a quick attendance then allows the class to split off for more practice. Jae and Sungjin take their usual practice room and Sungjin sits at the keyboard, eyes focused on the keys as he plays what he's practiced.

"You already learned it?" Jae asks, almost amazed,

"Told you I would, didn't I?" Sungjin says, smiling as he looks at Jae,

"Geez, a pianist," Jae muses and they laugh.

"Should we make it solely piano?"

"You don't wanna play guitar?" and Jae shakes his head, 

"I can play simple percussion if anything, but I really like the piano," 

"We will do whatever the composer decides," Sungjin says and Jae smiles,

"We can work on the melody today, maybe lyrics and then just keep practicing till the performance,"

"Sounds like a plan." Sungjin agrees and he proceeds to record the progression on the keyboard so that he doesn't have to keep playing it over and over again. 

The progession Jae made repeats in the small practice room as they're on the floor, sitting across from each other, cross legged and exchanging melody ideas. Jae loves the way Sungjin hums and does a little shake of his head when he sings a note that doesn't fit the key, he finds it adorable. Sungjin likes the way Jae nods to the rhythm and kind of pouts when he hums a melody. Sungjin brings up the adlibs from the original recording and Jae shakes his head, laughing. Sungjin's voice cracks while figuring out what they've tentatively labelled the 'pre-chorus' and they laugh.

"It's not that high!"

"Says you, you're claiming the melody an octave lower!"

"Fine, fine, we'll switch,"

"No. Now my pride is hurt, I can do it," Sungjin says and proceeds to sing the melody again. Jae's watching him with his chin in the palm of his hand, and a smile slowly forms,

"Why're you smiling like that?" Sungjin asks, eyes narrowed is suspicion, but smiling himself,

"How can you hit that note while smiling?" Jae asks,

"I can't look like I'm taking it seriously because if my voice cracks then it's just 10 times more embarrassing," he admits and it makes Jae laugh,

"But you're hitting it!"

"Fluke,"

"Ability," Jae corrects, and Sungjin rolls his eyes with a smile.

They end up taking a break on melody writing, talking about what the lyrics could be,

"Oh, right I meant to ask, how's your English?"

"I mean, I'm getting like an 87, but Mr. Park is kinda harsh-"

"Not your grade," Jae says, laughing,

"Like, would you be comfortable singing in English?"

"Wow, first piano and now another language?" Sungjin jokes and Jae immediately tries to take his question back,

"I was kidding," he assures,

"I'm down to sing in English. Probably won't be much help in the writing process though,"

"Mr. 87 in English won't help me write? Tsk tsk,"

"Hey, that's my thing," Sungjin says, nudging Jae lightly with his elbow, as they're now beside each other, earlier Sungjin shuffled over to watch Jae write in his notebook.

"My turn to tsk," Jae replies with a cute smile that Sungjin's eyes linger on.

"Okay Mr. studied in L.A, I'm sure I can help you loads with the English," and they laugh again.

"You got some ideas already?"

"Mhm," Jae nods,

"Then yeah, I can sing in English... But I feel bad, you're doing like everything,"

"I'm not playing the piano," he says with a smile, shaking his shoulders and leaning in out of habit when he talks to Brian and Wonpil. Sungjin smiles at the action,

"So, what's the theme of the lyrics?"

"Raindrops!"

"Oh, nice. Someone was inspired yesterday,"

"Mhm,"

"Lemme see," and Sungjin leans into Jae's side, peering at the lyrics and furrowing his brows to read the English. Jae tenses at the sudden proximity but the other doesn't seem bothered by it, he whispers the lyrics and his pronunciation is a lot better than Jae was expecting.

"Oho," he says, impressed and turns to look at Jae, his face a lot closer than Jae's used to handling.

"I like that line a lot, 'and when that river runs I sink so deep in its love',"

"Thank you," Jae says, and Sungjin smiles,

"I mean it, JJ, you're incredible," and he gets up, Jae blushing obviously and Sungjin smiles to himself at it.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom,"

"O-Okay," Jae says, and Sungjin exits the practice room and as soon as the door closes, Jae thrashes on the ground, slapping his cheeks and smiling like a mad man. He's too busy freaking out to realize Sungjin was peeking in from the window of the door, and upon seeing Jae's actions, throws his head back in laughter and eventually makes his way to Mr. Lee to ask to go to the bathroom.

Cute. Sungjin thinks to himself as he walks the halls, smiling to himself and soon realizing he probably looks like Jae - borderline crazy, but happy.

"Dude, what did you guys do?" Brian says, walking into the practice room and Jae's still on the floor, cupping his cheeks in hopes they lose their pink tint.

"What're you talking about?"

"Pil and I were practicing out there and Sungjin walked outta here with the most satisfied smile," he eyes Jae,

"Ew, what the Hell did you guys do in here-"

"Shut up, we didn't do anything, we practiced,"

"Practice is a broad term. What did you practice, Jae?" Brian jokes, wiggling his eyebrows and laughing when Jae smacks his leg,

"Our song,"

"Oh, our? A collective-"

"You're so annoying, get out, he'll be back soon,"

"Oho, you want privacy?" he keeps joking and Jae eventually cracks a smile as he tries to push Brian out but refusing to get up from the floor because he's comfortable.

"Pil! Collect your partner!" Jae yells, laughing as Brian puts his hands up in surrender,

"Woah, no need to call in the big guns," he says, sarcasm in his voice and his feigned expression of fear and Jae laughs. 

"I'm serious, Jae, I think he's interested in you too,"

"Mkay, get out," Jae gets up and starts pushing Brian towards the door and the other gasps,

"Did you just admit the possibility of-"

"I know whatever I say, you're just gonna keep being annoying so," and Brian finally exits the practice room.

Jae goes back to trying to write lyrics, when the door opens again,

"All I'm saying is that he seems giddy-"

"Out!" Jae doesn't even bother looking up from his notebook when the door closes, only to open again with a,

"But don't you think so too, like-"

"Bri! Stop!" and the door closes once again.

It opens and before Brian can say anything, Jae just says,

"You're so annoying, get out-" and looks up to see Sungjin with an amused expression, hands up as if guilty of something,

"Was just gonna work on this performance, but I guess not," and he motions to exit the room again,

"No, don't! Sorry," Jae says, and Sungjin laughs as he walks closer,

"Was someone bothering you? Who do I needa beat up?" Sungjin jokes, pretending to throw punches and Jae giggles,

"Oh, whatta hero,"

"Only for the prince in danger," he replies with a playful wink and Jae just smiles it.

"Hey," 

"Hm?"

"Are you busy this weekend?" Jae looks up,

"Uh, nope, I don't think so, why?"

"Should we meet up and practice?"

"Yeah, sure, that sounds like a good idea. Do you wanna come over?" Jae doesn't know why he extended that offer, but Sungjin's nod and smile doesn't allow him to regret it,

"Okay, sounds like a plan."

"For now, help me finalize these melodies," Jae says, patting the spot on the floor beside him and Sungjin sits down promptly, shuffling closer to him and leaning close, mumbling a "lemme see." 

The period ends with the duo getting the chorus down, and Sungjin's humming it as he exits the practice room,

"JJ," and Jae sees Brian and Wonpil's reaction to that nickname in the corner of his eye,

"I'll talk to you later," he says with a smile and Jae nods and Sungjin exits the classroom as the bell rings. Once he's out the door,

"JJ, huh?" Brian says and Wonpil's snickering,

"Yes." is all Jae says and they begin walking to Brian's hall, saying bye to their teacher. 

Sungjin: JJ!

Jae's chilling on his bed, notepad in his lap as he's editing a draft of lyrics he's rather satisfied with when his phone goes off.

Jae: Sungjin!

Sungjin: lol wyd??

Jae: writing :] 

Sungjin: perfect, Imma call you

and before Jae can type a response, he's receiving an incoming FaceTime call, and he scrambles to look decent before he answers and Sungjin's face fills the screen.

"Yo!" Sungjin greets and looks at his screen before smiling,

"Why're you pouting like that?"

"Cause I look like trash, couldn't this just be an audio call?"

"Nah, and hush, you don't look like trash,"

"Tsk tsk, bad liar," Jae says,

"You stole my tsk tsk," Sungjin says, laughing and Jae's smile is hidden by his hoodie, strings fully drawn in attempt to cover his face,

"And duh it was bad, 'cause I wasn't lying."

Jae watches as Sungjin says he has something to show him, the screen showing parts of Sungjin's room as he goes to the corner with his instruments, placing the phone on the keyboard stand, Jae presumes,

"Okay, so you said you liked the pure piano, yeah?"

"Mhm,"

"So, I was thinking about what percussion we could use 'cause, like you said, it's a bit empty rhythmically,"

"I did not say that," Jae says, laughing,

"You said something like that,"

"I offered to play the triangle for percussion," and Sungjin laughs,

"See, close enough!" and Jae watches as he sits down on a box drum, 

"If we use the cajon, I think it'd sound nice. Nothing complex, just a," and he plays out a rhythm,

"Oh, wait I forgot," and Sungjin gets up, and presses a button on his keyboard, Jae smiling at the image of Sungjin slightly cross-eyed and closer to the camera.

Their chord progression plays and Sungjin demonstrates what the rhythm sounds like with the piano and Jae smiles and is about to comment on it when Sungjin leans too far back and falls off the cajon. Jae lets out a bark of a laugh, throwing his head back as Sungjin scrambles up from the ground, walking to his phone,

"That was embarrassing," he says as Jae's still laughing,

"Okay, you can stop now, I get it,"

"That was hilarious," Jae says, between laughter, and he doesn't show any sign of stopping soon,

"Why were you sitting like that!" he says, referring to the way Sungjin lifted the front of the cajon off the floor, 

"For the acoustics!" he reasons, laughing as Jae starts laughing harder and he lets out a snort and immediately stops, freezing and just staring at the camera and Sungjin smiles,

"Did you just snort?"

"No,"

"Well, it's either you snorted or farted," and Sungjin's laughing as Jae pouts,

"That was embarrassing,"

"Cute," he says and Jae doesn't believe that's what he actually said, blaming it on a skip in the connection,

"So! Is that okay, do you think you'd be able to play that?"

"Yes. I'm sure I'd get it down eventually,"

"When we meet up this weekend, I'll show you,"

"But I don't own one of those,"

"So, I'll just bring this one, it's cool,"

"You sure?"

"Mhm,"

"Okay," Jae says with a smile,

"Okay, now for the real reason I called you!" Sungjin announces, taking his phone and plopping on to what Jae assumes is his bed. 

"Which is?" he asks, slightly nervous which even he admits is uncalled for.

"How are you?" he says, a small smile on his face as he looks into the camera,

"W-What?" Jae's doubting he heard correctly.

"You said the real reason-"

"Yeah, to talk to you," Sungjin replies, as if it should've been obvious. Jae stares at his phone in suspicion before he mentally shrugs,

"I'm good," he says, a smile creeping as he nods and Sungjin smiles too,

"Yeah? Tell me about it," and he does.

Their conversation, as smooth as their previous ones, continues on with topics jumping, intervals of laughter and Jae wonders why Sungjin called him. Why even after Sungjin finished showing him the rhythm part, they stayed on call. He's not complaining, just wary because he doesn't want to give himself false hope over casual, platonic conversation.

"Hey,"

"Hm?"

"I like talking to you," Sungjin says as their laughter from another one of Jae's clumsy stories from elementary. It catches the other off guard and a small,

"Huh," escapes his lips and Sungjin smiles, looking away from the camera,

"Sorry, that was weird, came outta no where," and he scratches his nape, explaining,

"It's just weird that we've never talked up until earlier this week, so yeah, just... Just stated my observation out loud, my bad,"

"Am I being too forward?" he says with a nervous laugh and he wants to smack himself for rambling.

"I like talking to you too," is what Jae replies, accompanied by a sincere smile,

"Okay. If you don't, you can hang up at any time," Sungjin jokes and Jae says cutely,

"Then this call will never end!" and it makes Sungjin smile.

The weekend comes quickly, and Jae's freaking out about having Sungjin over, telling his mom and sister that they absolutely cannot embarrass him in front of this person.

"Why not?" his older sister asks,

"You're using my piano, I should get at least 3 jokes as collateral,"

"He won't break it, why do you need collateral?"

"Cause I'm your sister," she says and ruffles his hair,

"Good luck with your crush, loser,"

"Not so loud!"

"He's not here!" she says, arms flailing and the doorbell goes off. She rolls her eyes as Jae sticks his tongue out,

"If he heard you through the door, it's not my fault you have a stalker listening with his ear pressed against it,"

"Okay, shoo!" he says and she says,

"No, I needa see if he's cute then I'll go upstairs."

"Ugh, you're so annoying!"

"I'm just looking out for my little brother. Now go answer the door," and he shuffles over and opens it, his sister lingering near the staircase that's visible in the foyer.

"Hey," Sungjin greets and Jae smiles,

"Hi!" and he opens the door wider so Sungjin can enter, and as he's slipping off his shoes he says,

"I brought your family some treats,"

"Oh, what," Jae accepts the box of traditional sweets,

"Couldn't come empty handed," he says and then he sees his sister and he gives a bow,

"Hello," he greets and she smiles and says,

"Hi,"

"Oh, that's my sister," Jae clarifies

"Hi, I'm Sungjin from Jae's music class," he introduces and she just says a,

"Cool," and she's going up the stairs, making eyecontact with Jae as Sungjin's fixing his shoes and mouths an 'approved' with a thumbs-up. 

"Does she not want any rice cakes?" he asks, almost concerned he made the wrong choice of treats and Jae assures him that that wasn't the case and that she'll probably eat them while they're in the basement. He offers Sungjin some water which he accepts then they make their way down the stairs.

"So, welcome," Jae says, arms spread as Sungjin scans the clean basement,

"You practice here?" he asks,

"Oh no, the piano's just down here,"

"So you play too?"

"No, my sister," 

"Oh. You sure you don't play?" he says as he's sitting on the bench,

"I tried taking lessons but I so bad so my parents switched me to guitar and the rest is history," he says and Sungjin laughs before scooting over and patting the space beside him on the bench.

"C'mere,"

"Nope, I can't play,"

"Don't you wanna be able to play the song you wrote?" 

"But you already know it,"

"C'mon JJ!" and Jae sighs with a smile before he makes his way beside Sungjin. He sits down and Sungjin plays the familiar chord progression and makes Jae put his hands on the keys, even amidst the protest, they're both smiling as Sungjin shows him how to play the chords. They sing along, Jae containing his freak out as they continuously brush hands and Sungjin doesn't seem to mind.

"Oh, right! I gotta teach you the rhythm," and with that, Sungjin gets up. He s the case and takes out the cajon, sitting on it and playing out a random riff before getting up and telling Jae to sit down. 

"I won't fall like you did," Jae declares as he's sitting and Sungjin narrows his eyes,

"Funny," he says,

"Yeah, it was," he replies and Sungjin pretends to kick the cajon. 

Sungjin tries explaining the rhythm, playing an example on the coffee table but Jae struggles a bit with the syncapation. Jae's getting frustrated and Sungjin's running out of ways to explain a, frankly, simple beat. He goes behind Jae,

"Do you mind if I, uh..."

"Huh? Oh!" Jae realizes Sungjin's arms are spread,

"G-Go ahead," he says and he hopes Sungin can't see his red cheeks as he wraps his arms around him and grabs his hands,

"Like this," he says and plays the rhythm, with Jae's hands but he's careful not to hit hard, the cajon not even making a sound. 

"Oh, o-okay," Jae says and Sungjin stays behind him as Jae plays it out. He gets it right at the second try and Sungjin high fives him with an adorable smile before they get to practicing.

Soon they're doing multiple run-throughs and Jae loves the way Sungjin sings, he can tell he's practiced the lyrics. Sungjin watches with a smile as Jae sings with his eyes closed, focusing on playing the beat and singing at the same time. Sungjin didn't realize he could love a self composed duet so much.

They take breaks in between, Jae muting his phone that's going off and tossing it on the couch because he notices Sungjin's barely checked his phone since he got there. Didn't even ask for the WiFi and that makes Jae smile internally, letting himself enjoy Sungjin's undivided attention. 

After what's reaching 3 hours, Sungjin says he should get back for dinner and Jae doesn't have a good enough excuse for him to stay, so they're saying goodbye at the door.

"Oh, wait!" Jae exclaims and Sungjin looks startled,

"What?" 

"I forgot to give you something, hold this," and hurriedly passes Sungjin his phone, waterbottle and music sheets where he wrote the rhythm just in case he forgets, to which Sungjin said to just call him and he'd be glad to show him again.

"I totally forgot to give it to you when you got here," Jae explains from the kitchen and Sungjin just smiles to himself before Jae's phone buzzes.

jae's whipped for sungjin: (wonpillie): did jae pass out, i'm trynna make PLANS

and Sungjin doesn't read the rest of the notifications, even as Jae's phone continues buzzing. He swiftly looks at the phone one more time just to confirm he read correctlyand contains his laughter at the group chat name. He muses a smile as Jae returns, holding banana milk and hands it to Sungjin,

"Here," he offers and they switch items,

"Thank you," Sungjin says, poking the straw in and taking a sip,

"Thanks for having me today,"

"Thank you for coming! And for teaching me the rhythm," and they laugh, Sungjin slips on his shoes and he's halfway out the door when he says.

"Oh, by the way,"

"Hm?"

"Your phone was going off, Wonpil messaged and I think Brian too,"

"Oh, that's okay, I'll reply and stuff later,"

"Okay," Sungjin says, smiling and Jae just smiles along. Sungjin waves as he walks out the door and Jae locks it behind him, doing a little dance after having another hang out with Sungjin. 

He's dancing and his sister laughs at him from the top of the stairs before Jae checks his phone and he freezes. His eyes go wide as he reads the notifications on his phone,

"Hey, what's wrong, you okay?" his sister asks, and Jae looks up at her,

"Nope." he whispers,

"Oh my God, it's over, I'll never see Sungjin again," he says,

"What the Hell are you talking about?"

"Oh my God, he saw my phone, oh my God, he read the notification, that's probably why he was smiling, he didn't say talk to me later, this is it-" he rambles and his sister walks down the stares and grabs his phone, Jae letting her as he just stares at the kitchen counter. She starts laughing,

"Why would you name your group chat that?"

"I didn't! Wonpil did!" he burries his head into his arms,

"I thought Sungjin meant Wonpil texted! Not in the stupid Instagram chat," and she laughs harder,

"This is not funny,"

"It kinda is," and he just groans, snatching his phone back and going upstairs to his room.

jaepark: I

wonpillie: oh there he is!

brikang: dude where were you

jaepark: am going to personally murder both of you.

wonpillie: oh

brikang: what did we do tho

jaepark: MESSAGE IN THIS STUPID CHAT AND NOW SUNGJIN KNOWS IT EXISTS

brikang: oh....

wonpillie: you wERE WITH SUNGJIN?

jaepark: you're first, pil... you're first.

Jae thrashes in his bed and he can hear his sister laughing as she goes to her room as he continues to groan and yell. His phone buzzes and he's about to go off in the group chat again when he pauses,

Sungjin: thanks for having me over

Sungjin: did you reply to wonpil and brian yet? 

and Jae can't find the courage to respond.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hi Hello, my name is Zen! :D 

I didn't forget about this LOL We love updating once a month lmfaoo but anyway! Park Bros is still superior :]

☾  social medias ☾ 
instagram: @zenlikestosing
twitter: @zenlikestosing
youtube: zenlikestosing
kakaotalk: zenaya
please feel free to contact me on any of those platforms! ^_^