Work Text:
Valerie:V Emma:E
E: VALERIE EFFING McWILLIAMS!!!!!! Where the heck were you yesterday?
V: ouch….geez Emma, do u have to hit me so hard just for skipping ONE class yesterday?
E: yes! Yes I do! You can’t just skip class without any apparent reason.
V: but! I DID a have really good reason :3
E: oh yeah?
Emma asks sarcastically.
V: I was sleepy. So I figured I’d catch up on some much needed beauty sleep.
E: just kill me…..
V: Ah! Ok ok I m sorry! I m sorry! I promise, I won’t skip classes for sleeping in.
E: I don’t wanna hear it; you ALWAYS break your promises.
Emma says that as she starts running off to her next class which had already started 5 minutes ago.
V: What do you mean? No, I don’t. Wait for me!!
Valerie runs off after Emma and as they make their way to their next class bickering the whole way. It’s nothing unusual for them it’s just how their friendship works and has been for the last 1.5 years since they been together. To be honest they were pretty different from each other personality wise but had one thing in common. They had similar interests; one of them involved being fans of a South Korean boy band called BTS. Both of them absolutely adored them to the point of obsession! (Some might call it). But this so called obsession of theirs changed these girl’s lives in ways that they would have never imagined.
1 Year Ago
Two girls with very different personalities yet similar interests but both unaware of each other. Valerie being a carefree laid back person. She was easy to talk to, people could approach her easily, she might be one of those people you meet in your life that, no matter what the subject was you wanted to keep talking to them she was just that captivating. She was able to make friends pretty easily. While on the other hand Emma was quiet, awkward. It’s not that she had a problem approaching people and talking to them, she had difficulty keeping the conversation going because after a while it would just fall apart and people would drift away. She found it hard to find common interest when meeting most people because heck! Most people didn’t even know her interests even existed, let alone be interested in them. It took a while for others to warm up to her, it weren’t as if either of them were loners, and both of them were pretty social among their circle of friends which comparatively WAS very different in size.
It was that one fateful afternoon when Valerie forgot to switch her phone to silent mode before class and it rang during lecture which earned her a glare from the professor also some curious glances from students in class and a few snickers from her friends but left a very shocked Emma with her mouth hanging open as that ringtone was none other than the soundtrack to BTS’s song blood, sweat and tears. It was honestly a sight to see, a brunette just staring at a blond girl's back with a gaping mouth and shocked expression. She managed to quickly regain her composure but for the rest of the class she couldn't focus because all she could think of was that ringtone. Her mind was filled with thoughts like:
"Was it a coincidence?"
"Maybe i was just hearing stuff cuz i have been bts deprived for some days."
"nononono maybe she just kept it as her ringtone cuz it was catchy or something....."
"But wait.....what if she IS an army....then how do i talk to her without seeming like a stalker...."
"God.....what do i do if she says she didn't know the song was from bts!!!....do i just back away slowly while apologizing or shrug it off nonchalantly and discuss the weather instead?"
"Omg, why was I born so awkward?! Just end me...."
And for the rest of the class Emma tried to come up with ways to start a conversation with the blond haired. When class finally ended, she nervously approached her and just as they made eye contact, before she could say something. Valerie spoke:
V: Uh, yeah! Sorry bout earlier, forgot to put my phone in silent mode.
E: I beg your pardon?
V: Umm isn’t that why you're here? My phone was pretty loud, must’ve bothered you during the lecture.
E: Oh! No no no, you got it all wrong. I actually wanted to uh ask you about your ringtone.
V: My ringtone?
E: Yeah!
V: Ok.....what about it?
E: Umm...the beat, it’s from blood sweat and tears right? By bts?
V: It is actually...are you perhaps an army?
E: As a matter of fact, I am.
V: OMG I never thought I would meet another army.
E: Me neither honestly.
V: Emma right? It’s nice to meet you. I'm Valerie.
E: Likewise, but I m surprised you know my name.
V: Haha call it, a bit much but I have actually memorized all the names of the students I have the same classes with.
E: Wow damn.
V: (chuckling at her response) yeah for some reason even though I m known as a scatter brain, I can remember names quite well once I hear them.
Emma was a little taken aback by her frankness with a complete stranger [damn these social butterflies!!! Go rot in your socialness] found it pretty easy to talk to her. Since having finally found someone with the same interest as her, they started talking about their interest on their way to the next class they had together. Emma was surprised by how well they clicked from habits to quirks and soon their friendship blossomed into what it is now.
PRESENT TIME
One evening, both of them were cooped up in the library trying to do their assignment that was due in a few days but they weren’t really making a lot of progress surprisingly due to them being engaged in a heated argument about…..
Yep, you guessed it! BTS theories.
V: Like I said, they’re all dead. And, are now living through their afterlife until passing onto the heavens because they’re angels and they deserved to go to heaven.
E: GURL! Just what kind of sugar induced sleep deprived high are you in right now? It’s obvious Jin went back in time and tried to save them, did you NOT see them with the girls or were you just so butt hurt jealous of them being with a girl that your brain decided to deny their existence all together?
V: WHAT? No! I’m not jealous of the girls that clearly ended up being either heartbroken or dead.
E: Oh please! You were so jealous silently wishing for their impending doom.
V: WAS NOT! Enough of that already! If YOU really think that, then explain the Fake Love MV. Tell me, that does not look like the afterlife where they’re going through the consequences for their actions.
E: Dude.
V: And don’t even get me started on the factor of all them supposedly going over to the evil side beca-.
E: DUDE.
V: I’M SHOOKETH EM! Absolutely utterly shook at the fact that taehyung wasn’t the only one who joined the dark side.
E: VAL LISTEN!
V: WHAT?
E: We haven’t made any progress at our assignment and its due in a few days.
V: Oh shit! You’re right .Damn we never seem to get anything done except catching up on our BTS gossip when we sit together to do something, do we?
E: IKR! Can’t help it, analyising bts MVs is far more interesting than these assignment could ever be tbh.
They start lightheartedly laughing at this.
V: So true …though, it makes me wonder sometimes.
Valerie says with a slightly serious tone from their previous banter.
E: Wondering about what?
Emma looks curiously towards the blond.
V: About how?....Just ugh! Hear me out for min, would ya?
E: okay, shoot.
Emma said as she closed both their textbooks and notes because it was clear, none of them were in a mood to complete their assignments. Their friendship had developed from when they were juniors to now. They could discuss a variety of topic ranging from funny to very deep emotional stuff and right now, Emma could tell the blond wanted to discuss something serious or deep, judging by how the usual smiling blond had a slight frown and deep look of contemplation as if she had been internally debating something within her mind for a while. Without saying anything she simply waits for her to speak while Valerie looks for words to explain her thoughts to her friend.
V: I’ve been thinking, ever since I found bts, when I was randomly scrolling on my phone. They’ve been an inseparable part of my life ever since.
E: Yeah, same goes for me. I feel so lucky to have found them.
V: But recently, I’ve been thinking about something…about my own life like how these 7 men are putting themselves out there for anyone to see with their music and creativity and achieving all their dreams, soon to be going places far beyond our imagination. But here I am, not really going anywhere with my life, just staying in one place …God, I just wish I knew what I wanted to do with my life like how these guys knew at such a young age.
E: To be able to throw themselves head first towards something like that is honestly admirable, I wish I had such passion towards something and have such a clear idea of what I wanted to do and pursue it no matter what. Because I just, dunno what it is that I want to put my whole being into just like that, to be so immersed in it that I forget to eat or drink and find sleep a hindrance cuz it would be wasting my time.
V: Nope! No matter how accomplished you become. I swear on your pimples, you will NEVER find sleep a hindrance or even remotely annoying, that much I can guarantee.
Saying this earned Valerie a slap on the arm and they both bursted out laughing.
E: You just had to say that, didn’t you?
V: But, of course! How else will i prove my utmost loyal friendship to you, why! By simply pointing all your mistakes.
E: Not really appreciated, ya know.
V: Oh hush now!
V: Anyway, but I can’t help but wonder. The seven amazing men taking over everyone’s hearts with their personalities and music and wowing everyone with their music. What are they like in real life? having such dedicated fans and followers all around the world ….what does it look like from their perspective? Like how do they not let the fame get to DEM HEADS. All that attention….doesn’t it ever get… I dunno too much? I know I would freak out, if I had this much attention on me all the time and then what goes through their mind when it comes to their music? Does the beat come first or the lyric? How do they brainstorm the lyrics? What do they deem worthy and what’s not? What do they keep in mind when creating the choreography for songs and how do they finalize it?
E: Yeah, honestly their work ethics just fascinates me to no end. How! Every time it’s so different yet distinctly bts even then.
V: Even after all of this, I wonder what do they do when they just don’t want to do anything and just lie in bed. How do they cope with that listlessness when they just don’t want to do anything, not even get out of bed to be honest…..Do they ever get tired of life even once? What’s different about their life from when they weren’t famous and now literally everyone knows about them? Does it ever overwhelm them as the sheer amount people, who will be judging and criticizing their work as professional artists? Aren’t they afraid that they might mess up? People are cruel and unforgiving; they wouldn’t forget and would try to bring it up again even if the mistake/issue itself were to be resolved long ago. Or a little thoughtless/silly rumor could potentially ruin all their hard work; just imagine how careful they have to be in order to not mess up not just their own hard work but each and every person’s effort, who is involved with them.
E: Yet, they manage to do all of that flawlessly.
V: But, isn’t it hard? To hide their pain, sadness and problems because they have to put on a show for others, because those people that are coming to see them, don’t know what’s going on and have been waiting for so long to watch them perform, some might even be waiting for months! And they know that those people won’t understand, why one member is frowning or why one couldn’t make it in time to a song, because they don’t know and wouldn’t know the reason behind it, only the members and the staff know the real reason but unfortunately, from an outsider’s point of view, it looks like they couldn’t live up to their expectations and assume it’s the result of miscalculation on the artist’s or staff part, chalking it up to incompetence or spreading stupid baseless rumors.
E: It scares me sometimes. To think that behind their smiling, happy go lucky exterior. They might have been in pain physically, mentally or emotionally .They could’ve had a real bad fight amongst each other right before going up on stage. And yet, even if I think this way. Regretfully seeing them have problems like this makes them seem human to me .I’ll think to myself “Ah, even they face the same problems like me and even they get lazy sometimes from their responsibilities and such.”They’re not always so glamorous and perfect like they appear on stage. They go about their daily lives and face problems just like us too.
V: But doesn’t it get lonely? Not a lot of people choose this lifestyle and only know about it from an outsider’s perspective so it must be hard and frustrating for them, when people outside their profession don’t understand and can’t relate to them. And, When they meet up, their problems might not seem so important to them, because with so much fame and money! People think a human being can’t possibly be sad yet that’s not true. They’re human just like us and have feelings too. If you can get hurt so can they.
V: Then there’s us, their fans. God! Honestly they cherish and value our presence so much it nuts …I mean who the hell dedicates so many songs to their fans, to people they don’t even know personally. But somehow I feel like they know us.
E: Every day I wake to another achievement by them, breaking some kind of record yet again and I feel proud and happy for them but at the same time, I feel frustrated with myself because I feel stuck at the same place where as everyone else is moving towards their goals and dream and accomplishing them, while all I do is just watch them.
V: Yeah yeah...It’s like you’re stuck somewhere. You want to move towards something but can’t because of fear that overwhelms you. The anxiousness of stepping out of your comfort zone going into something unknown .Not knowing what’s gonna happen next or how or where you need to go?
E: And it also doesn’t help, when the people around you constantly doubting you, even if those people are your family and friends. When, even though you know it was your fault and your mistake. It’s painful to be reminded and criticized for that by others especially those who you value the most.
V: I honestly can’t imagine what must’ve gone through their minds when this was happening to them. How did they live with it? When they were the attention of so many and how on earth did they manage to still show they were happy when possibly every shitty thing was happening to them.
E: Yet whenever I see videos of them practicing and rehearsing I have this nagging voice at the back of my head saying “look at them, they’re doing something with their lives but you’re just sitting here doing nothing…wasting time away” and then I feel like I have no choice anymore, I can’t push it away because my mind is forced to think about my life and look at it and it becomes painful for me. I feel happy and proud of them but at the same time, I’m shamefully envious of them and angry and frustrated with myself because I m not doing anything to improve my life.
V: But at the same time, even if that is true just seeing their videos puts me in a good mood. Puts me outta my misery from this shitty world and even though I feel frustrated. They push me and motivate me to work harder. If I want something badly enough, I should just go out there and get it.
E: I think you and me. We’ll get there somehow because even if you disagree with me I think a wandering person might be able to find the right path and reach the destination sooner than a person whose decided to stand still and not move at all because of fear of getting lost.
V: You’re right. I guess, there is hope for wandering people like us too.
E: Yeah, if there is hope for 7 adorable dorks and I m pretty sure there’s hope for us patata’s as well. Remember, they were lost and wandering too once, just like us now.
V: Yeah, if they can make it so far. I’m sure we can do atleast decently in life.
E: Well…maybe the first step might be getting starting on our lil forgotten assignment over here, ya know? So we don’t end up failing.
V: Haha! Yeah, I guess that’s a good start to it.
E: Yup.
Fin