Chapter Text
“I’ll go with you, Heeseung-hyung.” Jay says, raising his hand like he was volunteering to be class president in his new school.
Yeonjun looks at him in surprise while Heeseung looks ecstatic.
“Jay-ah… are you sure about this?” Yeonjun asks suspiciously. And now Jay is really curious.
“What’s the worst that could happen?” Jay says.
[March 2017 - BigHit]
Park Jongseong shows up at BigHit’s door on a rainy, March morning. It reminds him of the torrential pours he knew as a child, back at Seattle. It comforts him strangely, it’s like the rain is telling him that things will be alright. Cool air soothing his cheeks and slowing the nervous beating of his heart. He squares his shoulders and enters the building.
If he pretended he was confident and cool, he sure that’s how the others would see him. It’s how Jay survived transferring to Korea and a completely new school from America. It’s how he acted at his dance academy, and it’s been working out so far.
But all those thoughts shatter when he meets Lee Heeseung.
Heeseung is older than him, a couple of inches taller, and oozes assuredness in a way Jay knows is natural, not just a front. Heeseung is a trainee -trainee. He lives and breathes dance and music and Jay is all the more surprised to learn that Heeseung’s only been at BigHit for 2 months. No amount of confidence and false bravado can make up the difference in their skills.
Heeseung leads Jay around the building, having been assigned his hyung for the day. And Jay is introduced to a variety of people as he follows him around.
Heeseung tells him under hushed breath which managers are strict and which ones will let you steal the key to the vending machine. He talks animatedly about their vocal rooms and how they’re “soundproof, Jongseong. No one would be able to hear you even if you screamed!” and Jay tries not to think about how that sounds like the premise of a horror movie.
He’s also introduced to a few other trainees. Heeseung points out a really tall hyung named Choi Yeonjun, with only mild contempt at his skills. He also meets two, equally tall, trainees his age, Taehyun and Huening Kai, who joined BigHit just a few months before Heeseung.
Those three bustle around, doing their own thing. A little different from the others boys, which even Jay can see from their one shared practice room. When they move out of earshot, Heeseung tells him those were the debut members. Jay just nods in response, because he knows about that. Bang PD was transparent when he first joined about the fact that they already had a debut group line-up. Meaning, it would be a while before Jay would have a chance at a debut as well.
But he didn’t mind. He was here at BigHit, the place where BTS trained. He could wait a few years, if that’s what it took.
----
It’s the end of the day. And Heeseung goes up to each of the trainees, convincing them to go with him to the convenience store down the street for some ramyeon. The others make half-hearted excuses and wriggle out of Heeseung’s grasp. Jay doesn’t understand why.
Heeseung begs stubbornly, as he clings to Yeonjun-hyung, asking him to come. But Yeonjun is stubborn too and he’s telling him no with an amused expression. Jay is curious as to what’s going on, so he bites.
“I’ll go with you, Heeseung-hyung.” Jay says. He raises his hand like he was volunteering to be class president in his new school.
Yeonjun looks at him in surprise while Heeseung looks ecstatic, immediately switching his grip from Yeonjun to Jay's arm.
“Jay-ah… are you sure about this?” Yeonjun asks suspiciously. And now Jay is really curious.
“What’s the worst that could happen?” Jay shrugs.
Heeseung drags him out of BigHit and pulls him onto his bike. There’s only one seat, so Heeseung has Jay sit on the handlebars as they ride to the convenience store. It’s dangerous and only a little mortifying, but they make it in one piece.
They eat ramen and talk about their upcoming monthly evaluations, and it’s a generally pleasant time. Asides from the bike thing, Jay doesn’t understand why people were avoiding going out for ramen with Heeseung. Heeseung was cool and really funny.
The next few weeks, Heeseung catches Jay whenever they finish up practice together and they go out to the convenience store. It’s around his 10th time when he understands why people avoid going out for ramyeon with Heeeung.
It’s because it’s always fucking ramyeon with Heeseung. Jay feels the belt around his pants get a little tighter, and his mom is making comments about how round his face is these days.
Jay asks Yeonjun about it and the hyung just chuckles and pats Jay on the back.
“Goodluck trying to convince him to eat anything else. When I started going with Heeseung to the convenience store, I gained like 4 kilos in a week.” And Jay’s mouth drops open. Heeseung must have the metabolism of a cheetah to stay that skinny and eat noodles as much as he did.
If there’s one thing Jay is proud of, it’s his ability at confrontation and honesty. The very next day, when Heeseung is pulling Jay onto his bike again, Jay plants his heels into the ground, holding Heeseung back by the strap of his training bag.
“No.” Jay says firmly. And Heeseung already knows what he means.
Heeseung whines. “Not you too… Why doesn’t anyone wanna go with me?” And it’s honestly cute to see his hyung upset like this. As if he was a child on the playground and no one wished to play in the sandbox with him.
“It’s not that I don’t wanna go with you, hyung.” Jay explains. “But we’re eating too much ramyeon. At this rate, we’re going to have a heart attack!”
Heeseung pouts and Jay really wants to laugh at him. But he holds it in because he can tell it’s something important to Heeseung.
“I still wanna hang out with you though, hyung. Is there anything else you want to do?” Jay asks to cheer him up. And Heeseung looks at him thoughtfully.
“Have you… ever been to Han River?”
----
The bike ride to Han River is much longer than the one to the convenience store so Jay tries to convince Heeseung to switch with him on the handlebars halfway through. But when Jay is the one pedalling, Heeseung almost goes careening into the street because Jay can’t keep his balance.
So he puts up with the embarrassment of strangers staring at him while Heeseung pedals behind him.
They arrive at Han River just as the sun is about to set. The sky is overcast, but the sun peaks out enough to paint the clouds in a multitude of colors. It’s drizzling lightly.
They walk along the river in silence, Heeseung pushing his bike beside him, while Jay stretches, watching raindrops pattern over the river’s surface. Even if it’s raining, there’s a lot of people out, jogging, walking their dogs, or bringing their children out for some playtime.
“I bike this way every weekend. To here all the way from my house.” Heeseung says, when Jay asks why he wanted to come here.
And Jay is shocked to know that’s how Heeseung stays in such shape. That’s easily over 10 kilometers on a one-way trip.
“...I should join you then, if I’m going to be hanging out with you this often.” Jay mentions nonchalantly, and Heeseung gives him a grin that’s ear to ear, bumping into him as they walk.
From then on, for the next 3 years, Jay sees Heeseung more than his own family. They practice in the day, and take walks along the Han River at night. When Jay reaches his growth spurt and gets too big to sit in front, Heeseung installs spokes on the back wheel of his bike so he can ride standing up at the back. Jay and Heeseung celebrate each other’s birthday an equal amount of times. Inexplicably, it always rains on Jay’s birthday.
And they still eat ramyeon, but Jay manages to get Heeseung to cut it back to 3 times a week instead.