Work Text:
one. two. three. four.
that’s the amount of times heeseung taps his fingers across every bar that plays in the studio. a production software is pulled up on his screen, and he watches as the seeker line dances past the layered recordings, his own voice bouncing back into his ears from the speakers.
he hums, not quite satisfied, yet not wholly displeased. he decides that he’ll try recording the part again tomorrow, when his throat is less sore after a day of practice for the upcoming concerts. it’s exciting, knowing that they’ll be touring multiple countries again, meeting their fans and familiar faces and experiencing different cuisines. nonetheless, he is but human, and heeseung is exhausted after running through their entire set three times in the afternoon. he longs for a good sleep, a warm shower and—
“hyung.”
jaeyun’s voice sounds as heeseung hears the door to his studio open.
“hyung-ah,” jaeyun sighs, closing the door behind him before standing behind heeseung’s chair. “you’re here again.”
“where else would i be, my heart?” heeseung takes one of jake’s hands and kisses the indent of his wrist, where his pulse is. “what are you doing in the company at this hour too?”
“i was running through the new choreography.” jaeyun rests his head on the crown of heeseung’s, eye fluttering shut as he lets out a loud exhale.
“my sweet, hard-working jaeyun.” heeseung smiles, hand coming up to rub jaeyun’s hair, cherishing the feeling of the latter’s soft black locks between his fingers. “no wonder you’re adored everywhere you go.”
jaeyun giggles at that, and heeseung doesn’t have to look at him to know that his eyes are crinkled beautifully. “you’re so biased, hyung-ah.”
“not biased. it’s been scientifically proven that my baby is loved by everyone.”
“well, may i know the scope of your sample then, my love?” jaeyun teases, spinning heeseung’s chair around so he can finally see his boyfriend’s face.
“my humble but wholly objective sample is myself,” heeseung proudly proclaims, lips curving up into a smile laced with so much heart-breaking tenderness; something jaeyun had been terrified of, yet fascinated by.
at that, jaeyun leans forward and presses a kiss onto heeseung’s lips, smiling languidly in return when the latter looks up at him adoringly, stars dancing in his eyes as if jaeyun hung the moon himself.
“are you going to practice more?” heeseung asks. his hands are playing with the hem of jaeyun’s frayed shirt, toying at the loose strings.
once again, heeseung looks so young underneath the harsh studio lights and his face bare of make-up. it’s easy to forget that he’s the youngest of his family despite being the mathyung of the group, something that even now, jaeyun has to remind himself of.
beneath the responsible and dependable persona that heeseung puts on and embodies, he is still merely twenty two years old, with years ahead of him and a future so oh-so-bright. the way he lights up whenever he buys a new lego set is utterly endearing, and his fervent enthusiasm when riki challenges him to another round of basketball is another reason for jaeyun to find him the most star-kissed person he has ever met.
heeseung has always been a star in his eyes, from their i-land days till now. as much as he denies it, heeseung thrives off praise and attention; he glows whenever someone compliments him for his singing, and shines even more when people bring up his honed dancing skills. how could people ever stay away from him?
jaeyun has been pulled into heeseung’s orbit since day one, since the day heeseung locked his eyes on him and approached him on the first day of i-land. from the moment jaeyun saw those doe eyes transfixed on him, he knew he was gone; there were very few things lee heeseung wouldn’t work for, and even less that he wouldn’t get.
hook, line, and sinker.
jaeyun fell in love with the boy who wore his heart on his sleeve throughout the entire show, emotions obvious on his face as things escalated and more and more of their friends were eliminated. jaeyun’s heart stung when he got sent to the ground again, but the small smile heeseung shot at him amidst the latter’s tears gave him a drive that he had never experienced. for a moment there, all jaeyun wanted to do was wrap heeseung in his arms, tucking him close to his heart and holding him there firmly. all he yearned to do was tell heeseung that he was going to come back, that the next time heeseung saw him, it’d be jaeyun emerging from that stupid egg and launching himself into heeseung’s arms.
and that, he did.
after they debuted, it was so easy to fall in tandem with heeseung all over again after the initial awkwardness dispelled. it was their reality now; they were finally debuting, finally stepping onto the same stages that jaeyun only watched on his phone in the darkness of the night. they were enhypen, a team of seven, and they only had each other in the industry.
in the beginning, jaeyun watched as sunghoon, his other half, become less of himself and more of a shell of a living person; the dark circles underneath his eyes grew, his jawline became even sharper, and the usual quirkiness he carried himself with was gone. all that was left of sunghoon was a vessel of ugly feelings and creeping insecurities, and what used to fuel him through iland was long gone, and the reality that he had abandoned his childhood dreams of staying on the ice finally hit him.
it wasn’t a surprise that they were all dragged into one big, ugly fight one day. the classist setting of the show was too obvious, and not everyone of them had the opportunity to dance between the islanders and grounders as much as jaeyun and jay did. they were a tightly wound string ready to break, a thinly spread band waiting to snap. and they did. one misstep from sunghoon and even more hurtful words later, and the seven of them were shattered into smithereens on the tiled floor, faces aghast as they glared at sunghoon.
yet, in the end, for how impatient and short-tempered heeseung always deems himself to be, the elder is the one who stays with sunghoon. the last thing jaeyun remembers that day is shutting the door of their dorms to the sight of sunghoon buried in heeseung’s lap, body shaking and his sobs echoing through the then-empty living room.
jaeyun supposes that if there was anyone in the group who would understand sunghoon the most, it’d be heeseung. they were alike in the most important ways; both of them believed in the power of sheer will and determination, always working hard and pushing themselves to be the best in their own eyes. it didn’t matter how much they were praised, because they truly were their own greatest critics, always able to point out flaws in themselves that they were ashamed of.
back then, the crushing reality of sunghoon leaving his childhood dreams, the ice he held so dear to his heart was so visceral that jaeyun longed to hold sunghoon in his arms himself, to give the boy the same silent comfort he received from sunghoon. alas, he knew that he couldn’t do so, but there was someone would could— heeseung. heeseung understood the pain of letting go of a dream all too well, the crushing sensation of slipped opportunities all too personally and only he had been able to garner the words sunghoon wanted to hear.
that’s just who lee heeseung is, so laden with experiences beyond his age, yet still manages to live with childlike wonder and never lose the light in his eyes.
he is the same boy jaeyun fell in love with in iland, and he will always be the brightest star in jaeyun’s little universe of love, and jaeyun’s dawn that breaks the dark sky for the first time in the morning.
“—jaeyun, jaeyun-ah.” heeseung tugs on his boyfriend’s shirt, pouting slightly when he notices that the latter’s eyes are glazed over.
“ah, i’m sorry. i was just thinking,” jaeyun apologises and presses a consolatory kiss on heeseung’s forehead. “yeah, i’m gonna be here for a bit more.”
“let’s go home together, yunnie,” heeseung says as he intertwines their fingers, a cheeky grin brightening up his face and his eyes curling up into little crescents. “we can get off work together, isn’t that romantic?”
jaeyun lets out a laugh at that, nodding as he replies, “romantic indeed, my dear. now, go back to working on the cover. i’ll be done in around an hour.”
heeseung blows him one last kiss before jaeyun closes the door of the studio behind him, footsteps considerably lighter as he makes his way back to the dance practice room, the familiar black walls greeting him again.
sunghoon and sunoo are splayed over each other at the corner of the room, fond smiles on their faces as they talk quietly. sunghoon reaches over to push sunoo’s hair away from his face, and jaeyun watches from the reflection in the mirror as pink creeps up sunoo’s ears quickly.
jaeyun shakes his head and decides to announce his presence.
“yah, stop flirting in public!” he teases, chuckling when sunoo immediately jumps up from sunghoon’s lap, the cherry blossom shade now spreading all the way to his cheeks. sunghoon merely laughs at that, slipping a casual hand around sunoo’s waist to pull the latter close.
“stop acting like you didn’t just go to heeseung hyung’s studio to make out with him,” sunghoon retorts.
jaeyun sticks out his tongue as a reply to that, and they soon fall back into the familiar rhythm of dance practice, running through the choreography that’s been carved into their muscles, movements as familiar as breathing. the muscles of jaeyun’s arms and legs throb painfully as he moves according to the song, arms falling and rising to each beat.
louds pants and the faint smell of sweat fills the practice room after they run through their newer songs. jaeyun falls to the floor as the last notes of chaconne fade out, chest rising up and down quickly. it’s never easy, learning new dance routines in such a short span of time, yet still expected to execute it flawlessly in front of tens of thousands hopeful fans. nonetheless, jaeyun is but a person who is fuelled by love, be it for his fans or for his members.
he smiles as he spots sunghoon pressing a cold bottle of water on sunoo’s forehead, the latter slapping sunghoon’s shoulder playfully when the icy sensation sets in.
the bags under their eyes only grow prominent as the days of the month go by, but nothing deters them anymore— all seven of them are the epitome of pure drive and passion. they are nothing if not unfailingly ready to give it their all on the stage, under the harsh spotlights of the countless domes and stadiums they perform in.
jaeyun firmly believes the stars aligned and colluded on the last episode of i-land; cheesy as it may be, maybe jongseong truly collected all of them, the seven stars including himself. as the fans always said, enhypen was destined to be the seven of them the moment they gathered in that faithful kitchen at the same time, whipping up some food despite the murkiness of their future and the fragile bonds between them.
“hyung, you guys should stop here for today,” jungwon says as he pops his head into the room, hair pushed back with a headband as he’s clad in another one of his oversized plaid shirts. “it’s getting late and we have another long day tomorrow.”
from where jaeyun is sprawled on the floor, he can spot jongseong standing behind jungwon, their hands intertwined as jongseong is focused on his phone, probably reading another article about the state of the economy or some other niche he’s into. nonetheless, he shoots jungwon a quick look every now and then, and jaeyun has to smile at how soft jongseong’s eyes are everytime he does so.
jongseong is made of sharp edges and curt corners, having an angular jawline that looks like it could double as a chef’s knife and thick eyebrows that distract people from his comparatively gentle eyes. he’s honest and straightforward, quick to voice out his discomfort and disagreement when someone displeases him or makes a weak argument. that doesn’t mean he’s not gentle— if anything, jongseong is one of the most tender people jaeyun has ever known. he’s oddly sentimental about his possessions, be it his expensive camera that could buy two cars, or a watch that his father gifted him a few years back.
on top of that, jongseong never fails to take care of them like family; he takes riki home for the holidays when their schedules are unforgiving, he brings sunoo his favourite snacks after each midnight convenience store run, and he never fails to pull jaeyun and sunghoon out of their rooms to talk about life at least once a fortnight despite the fact that they spend almost every breathing moment together.
jungwon, who’s always smiling with his eyes crinkled and cheeks puffed out, keeps jongseong from giving too much. it’s not that he doesn’t love his members just as much, but he’s the first one to force jongseong out of the dance studio every time he stays back with sunghoon to perfect a dance sequence, glaring at the latter to make the duo return home after seven hours of training. he’s the first to greet jongseong in the mornings with a kiss to his forehead, wordlessly taking over the stove as he chortles jongseong to take a shower first.
jaeyun is grateful for jungwon, for keeping jongseong’s heart well stitched onto his sleeve, still out for the world to see but never for them to hurt or rip it out.
sunghoon nods at that, pulling sunoo up. along with jaeyun, they make their way towards their bags, packing up their towels, water bottles, and spare clothes. the air-conditioning in the room has long dried jaeyun’s sweat, but he still feels icky when he spares the mirror a glance; his hair is sticking out in all directions and he has no choice but to put on the snapback he has in his bag at all times.
“you guys go ahead first. i’ll go get heeseung-hyung,” jaeyun tells the remaining four when they reach the elevator.
“oh, heeseung-hyung’s having a weverse live now. it’s been around half an hour since he started, i think.” jungwon unlocks his phone and shows jaeyun the live broadcast on his screen. sure enough, his boyfriend is sitting languidly in front of his producing equipment, his faded silver hair unstyled and clad in his grey t-shirt, exactly the state jaeyun had found him in before practice.
jaeyun nods at that. “then, i’ll wait outside for him. i don’t think he’ll be long anyways.”
they bid goodbye to him as he makes his way to heeseung’s studio. just outside the door, he hears heeseung chuckle, most likely having read another funny comment from their fans. after a moment of two, the beginning notes of taeyang’s seed plays, and jaeyun lingers outside the door for a bit, listening to heeseung sing along to the song.
no matter how many times jaeyun listens to his boyfriend sing, he’s still blown away by the sheer emotion heeseung always conveys when he belts out an emotional song or a sad lyric. to jaeyun, heeseung’s voice reminds him of a soft, weighted blanket. whenever heeseung sings a bit of a random song under his breath as they get ready, jaeyun feels so greedy; he wants to record heeseung’s voice and immortalise it into his cloud of memories, he wants the small lilt of heeseung’s singing to be carved into his brain, so that whenever he misses heeseung’s touch on his shoulder, he can close his eyes and just imagine that his boyfriend is right there, humming an old korean love song next to him.
heeseung reminds jaeyun of the morning after a night of downpour; the subtle humidity that lingers in the air of the city, clinging onto his skin as he makes his way to the small convenience store down the street, the morning dew that hangs onto the leaves of the park jaeyun sometimes goes to to have a breath of fresh air, and the forgiving sunshine that he basks in. it’s warm and all-encompassing, wrapping jaeyun in a secure embrace.
coming to seoul has long taught jaeyun that home is where the heart is, and that the human heart is a magical thing—how can pieces of jaeyun still be harboured in australia, next to layla and his family, all the while he has given heeseung even more fragments of his love, which the latter tucks securely in his hold, wordlessly taking care of it like you would a house plant?
(heeseung waters their love with whispered good mornings and light kisses planted on the crown of jaeyun’s head, shines on it with his beautiful smile that carries all the way up to his crinkled eyes, and nourishes it with a hug at the end of a long day.)
deciding not to interrupt heeseung just yet, jaeyun turns around and heads into a random empty studio. he settles down on the sofa and starts scrolling through his burner twitter account. he reads the fan translations that are being posted in real time with heeseung’s live, chuckling a little when he stumbles upon heeseung saying that his hair is now the colour of an omelette.
suddenly, he receives a call from 희승 ♡ on his phone, startling a bit at his own ringtone. laughing at himself a bit, he answers it.
“hello?” heeseung’s voice trickles into his ear, making jaeyun’s heart pick up at the pace of a small speedboat. he feels so silly for still having butterflies from heeseung’s voice alone despite dating him for more than a year.
jaeyun hums as a response.
“i’m doing a weverse live now. where are you?” heeseung asks, and jaeyun can hear him rolling his chair back and forth.
“i’m in one of the empty studios right now.” jaeyun turns his head to look at the plague on the door. “room 5-5.”
“5-5?” heeseung repeats back at him.
“yeah, i’m just waiting for you to wrap up.”
“you were waiting for me?” at that, heeseung lets out a soft laugh into the mic, making jaeyun feel a little dizzy. christ, the effect lee heeseung has on him is absolutely wondrous.
heeseung continues, “you should’ve told me. i thought you weren’t ready to go yet, so i turned on the live.”
jaeyun also laughs upon hearing that. what were the chances that heeseung was waiting for him as well?
“it’s okay, hyung. i’ll just be here until you’re done,” jaeyun reassures him, not wanting heeseung to drop things so quickly just for him. “take your time.”
“mm, i will. i’ll see you soon, okay?” heeseung turns his back to the camera and drops his voice down to a quiet one. “love you, baby. i’ll be quick.”
ripples of butterflies break free in jaeyun’s stomach and the grip he has on his phone tightens. in a voice higher than he’d like to admit, he replies, “love you too.”
the teasing hum that heeseung gives him before hanging up is enough incentive for jaeyun to groan in response, smacking his face into the plush material of the sofa. it’s absolutely ridiculous, how heeseung is still able to reduce him into a pile of mush with just a simple sentence.
he stands up and leaves the studio, walking towards the one heeseung occupies. he knocks twice on the door before opening it himself, poking his head in with a grin on his face. heeseung rolls his chair back, looking up at him. the smile jaeyun gets in return makes his heart morph into a puddle of goo, sticky and laden with affection for the doe-eyed boy in front of him.
he leans into the camera’s field of vision, waving a bit for the fans before reminding heeseung that he’s just outside.
not even five minutes later, heeseung opens the door of the studio, finding jaeyun leaning on the wall, giving him a small, tired smile. his heart flutters at the sight of jaeyun’s sleepy smile, a languid upturn of his lips as he holds his arms out to heeseung.
heeseung coos when jaeyun pulls him in and rests his head on the crook of heeseung’s shoulder. “tired, baby?” he murmurs into jaeyun’s ear softly, appreciating the faint shudder that runs through his boyfriend’s shoulders.
“mmm,” jaeyun whines into the cloth of heeseung’s shirt. “let’s go, hyung. can’t wait to cuddle and sleep.”
heeseung gently pats jaeyun’s head twice, prompting the latter to raise his head and look into heeseung’s eyes. no amount of exhaustion could ever dampen jaeyun’s beauty; if anything, he looks even lovelier under the fluorescent lighting, the glazed over look in his eyes making his brown irises dreamy. his lips are pink and plump, and heeseung stares at them like he’s looking at his life’s muse, yearning and wanting.
faced with such temptation and possessing the resolve of a starved man, heeseung surges forwards and kisses jaeyun on the lips, hand coming up to cup the back of jaeyun’s head as he presses down even more, savouring the sweet taste of his boyfriend’s lush lips. he bites down on jaeyun’s bottom lip, smirking slightly when jaeyun’s breath hitches and an involuntary whine escapes him. jaeyun’s hands around his waist tighten, and heeseung himself feels his knees buckle slightly under his ministrations, jaeyun’s calloused palms a warm sensation on his skin due to the thin shirt he’s wearing.
they continue to kiss in the hallway, probably longer than their company regulations allow, but heeseung has never been one for rules. it’s jaeyun who pulls away first, breaths shallow as he gently pushes heeseung away by his chest. heeseung complies, opting to rest his forehead on jaeyun’s instead as they both catch their breath.
“let’s go?” jaeyun whispers, his breath dancing across heeseung’s cheeks like a light kiss of its own.
“let’s go home.” heeseung finally stands up straight, hands reaching to intertwine with jaeyun’s own and tugging him impossibly closer.
“home it is,” jaeyun smiles, pressing one last kiss to heeseung’s jaw.