Chapter Text
One year later
Jungwon cackled as he made a sharp turn, sending them all toppling over to one side of the vehicle. Jay stuck his head out the window and let out a whoop of support as Jungwon frighteningly stepped even harder on the gas.
“Who let Jungwon drive?!” Heeseung yelled from the back.
“You’re doing great, Wonie,” Jay said encouragingly, though he placed a steadying hand at the base of the steering wheel.
“Yeah, doing great at sending me to an early death again,” Niki said sharply.
“Don’t worry, I will get all of us across this country in one piece,” Jungwon said firmly. “What fun is a road trip anyway, if you’re not living a little on the edge?”
“You are so right darling,” Jay said sappily, carding his fingers through the hair at the nape of Jungwon’s neck.
“Oh god, I hate them,” Niki moaned, turning away from the sight. He flung open the curtain dividing the front of the van from the back, hoping for some refuge from the incessant PDA. He immediately slapped his hands over his eyes as he came upon Heeseung and Sunoo cuddling in the back seat. “Oh god, I hate them too.”
“Aren’t bands supposed to hire drivers for a tour like this? Isn’t that what a manager is for?” Sunoo lamented, looking a bit ill. Heeseung rubbed his back soothingly.
“Your best friend is our manager,” Niki replied angrily. “And he drives like a madman.”
“I can hear you, brat!”
“Good,” Niki screamed back. Sunoo flinched, plugging his ears with his fingers. “I was afraid I wasn’t speaking loud enough!”
He pushed past them, mumbling something about feeling carsick, and slammed the door to the lavatory behind him.
“Well this is an experience,” Sunoo sighed contentedly. Despite the potential hazard of Jungwon behind the wheel, he couldn't think of anywhere else he'd rather be. Heeseung rubbed his head in small circles and Sunoo arched into the touch like a cat yearning to be pet.
“I told you that you’d be selling out concerts one day,” Heeseung smiled at him. His hair was getting long now, falling almost completely over his eyes. When he looked at Sunoo in that way of his, like he physically couldn’t keep the grin off of his face, Sunoo thought he was the most stunning vision in the world.
Sunoo couldn’t believe he was real. He couldn’t stop himself from reaching out for Heeseung from time to time, or randomly grabbing his hand and squeezing it just to confirm he was tangible. Sometimes Sunoo wondered if he was a mirage. A phantom.
“Not me,” he said. “Us.”
Heeseung hummed in agreement, resting his chin on top of Sunoo’s head and pulling him against his chest.
It was their first tour ever, and while they weren’t performing internationally yet, they had sold out quite a number of locations across the country. They’d skyrocketed in popularity after the Belift performance, and of course the news of the boys’ miraculous awakening had made headlines everywhere.
They’d just finished shooting their first music video for their song Fever, and now they were all piled into a tour bus en route to their first tour destination. Sunoo couldn’t imagine himself being any happier than he was now.
“Hee,” Sunoo said quietly. “Do you believe in fate?”
“You’re in my arms right now, aren’t you?” Heeseung replied. "That has to be the work of some type of miracle."
A loud retching noise came from the bathroom. Given the fact that Jungwon had been driving relatively smoothly for the last few minutes, Sunoo had a sneaking suspicion that they had been overheard.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you more.”
“I loved you first.”
“You saw me first,” Sunoo corrected.
“Same thing.”
“Is not,” he scoffed. “Plus, how do you know you saw me first? Maybe I happened to pass you by on the street one day, and saw your face before you ever laid eyes on me.”
Heeseung snorted. “What’s the probability of that?”
“Not probability,” Sunoo said with a smirk. “Fate.”
Heeseung nudged Sunoo's chin with his thumb and he looked up, only for Heeseung to dip his head down and press his lips to his. Sunoo melted into him for a moment, before the boy pulled away again, looking down at him with shining eyes.
“Fate,” Heeseung agreed softly. “I’ll take it.”
---
Ten years ago
“Wonie,” Sunoo gasped. “Look!” He dragged his friend by the hand across to the other side of the park, where a pair of boys were seemingly busking. Of course this term was to be used very loosely, given that their instruments were fashioned out of cardboard and crayon, and people were hesitant to drop money into the baseball cap of a child.
It didn’t matter that their guitars couldn’t play real music, however. What had caught Sunoo’s attention wasn’t their gaudy props, but the sound of an angelic voice wafting towards him. Sunoo fell into a trance, and he closed his eyes as the song washed over him in a soothing wave.
“Ahh, his guitar is so cool!”
Sunoo opened one eye to peer at Jungwon, who was gawking at the dramatically mimed guitar performance of the boy standing next to the singer. “It’s not real, Wonie,” he told him.
The boy pouted. “You’re mean. It still looks cool,” he sighed in admiration. Sunoo couldn’t help but agree. They did look cool, in his eyes anyway.
He’d been taking piano lessons from his mother for a few years now, and though he sang to himself quietly in the shower, he hadn’t quite gathered the courage to receive vocal coaching from her yet.
But as he watched and listened, he felt a spark of inspiration. He wanted to play an instrument. He wanted to sing. He wanted to perform in front of people, even in front of a small park just like those two boys were doing, without a care in the world about what anyone thought of them. They were just making music and enjoying themselves, and Sunoo wanted more than anything to have what they had.
“Jungwon,” he said breathlessly. “I think I want to be a singer.”
“Cool,” Jungwon mumbled distractedly in response to his revelation. “When you’re famous, I’ll be your manager, okay?”
It was quite clear that Sunoo and Jungwon were their only audience, but the little two person band took no notice of them, lost in themselves. Sunoo finally managed to pull himself away before they did notice and became weirded out by just how long he and Jungwon had been standing there watching.
Sunoo thought about it all evening. At the dinner table, he announced to his mother that he wanted to start singing lessons. She looked pleasantly surprised.
“What made you decide that you want to sing?” she asked him.
A nine year old Sunoo with a head full of big dreams grinned cheekily.
“Fate,” he said. “And two boys with cardboard guitars.”