Chapter Text
South Korea.
It’s where he was born, yes, but despite knowing the language, the food and the culture… it doesn’t feel all that much like ‘home’ anymore. He spent a little too much time in Boston, he guesses, but he’ll have to make do now that he’s back.
A vibration in his pocket alerts him to a new message on his phone.
from: aka-minhyukuuu
hey hey have you reached SK yet?? I’m waiting outside the gates in the arrival hall ~
from: IMwhatiam
hyung the arrival hall is huge how am I even supposed to find you
and yea the plane just touched down. waiting for baggage now.
from: aka-minhyukuuu
just look out for the most gd-looking guy in the arrival hall, shouldn’t be too hard
jkjk
ooo I think I see a cutie in a snapback ~
Changkyun groans at that last message, adjusting the snapback messily placed on top of his ruffled hair. Spotting Minhyuk – he wasn’t kidding when he said he was easy to spot, what with him carrying a huge #1 I.M FAN signboard – he fires off a quick reply before heading over.
from: IMwhatiam
you dork can you please #stop
“Never,” Minhyuk grins when Changkyun walks close enough to be in earshot.
“You look like an idiot,” Changkyun grumbles. Nonetheless, he gives Minhyuk a hug and snuggles his face into his shoulder for a few seconds as he always does, before pulling away.
“Isn’t that what you always say when you see me?” Minhyuk says.
“That’s because you always look like an idiot.” Changkyun replies. He maintains his deadpan stare for another moment, before bursting into a smile. “Damnit, I missed you.”
“Of course you did,” Minhyuk teases. “I’m your favourite.”
“You know I collaborated with Kim Mingyu the other day? We’re great friends but he’s such an idiot. We had the video filmed and everything but then he said he forgot to bring his laptop to edit it. So we had to travel all the way back to his apartment to edit the video. It took us four hours total.” Changkyun huffs. “I hate to admit it, but compared to him, you’re not actually that bad.”
Minhyuk snickers. “I love that kid. His videos with Jeon Wonwoo are the best though.”
Changkyun nudges him in the shoulder. “Yeah but now that I’m officially a part of the South Korean YouTube community, you have to introduce me to everyone. I only know you, as of now.”
“Wait, I have an idea! We should take a pic and post it on Twitter. Then, all my mutuals will see you.” Minhyuk says excitedly.
“You’re a social media addict,” Changkyun says disapprovingly, but holds up a peace sign obligingly for the camera.
✖
aka-minhyukuuu uploaded a photo.
“finally met my bestest bro @IMwhatiam after a long flight from boston to sk!! he looks like a puppy irl – is it just me who wants to pet him?
@aka-minhyukuuu please don’t pet me I’ll bite your hand off ‘bestest bro’ or not
@IMwhatiam oh come on kkungkkie… u know u love me :p
✖
Changkyun takes a few days to settle into South Korea. He buys the local food, get acquainted with his new surroundings and even goes sightseeing with Minhyuk for his daily vlogs. He was worried about homesickness but being surrounded by Minhyuk’s constant energy turns out to be a good thing as it gives him a bubble of normalcy, hanging out with his best friend.
It takes him three days to find Monsta X, South Korea’s newest boy group. It takes him less than one day to listen to all their songs, marathon their entire survival show and become what most would consider a fanboy.
He tries to hide it from Minhyuk, but for all his cute puppy-like qualities, his best friend is like a bloodhound whenever he senses Changkyun is hiding something. One day, he comes home to his apartment, to see Changkyun scrolling through pictures of Lee Jooehon on Tumblr and he hasn’t let it go since then.
He makes fun of Changkyun, sure, but he got his payback by getting Minhyuk to watch NO.MERCY with him – and laughing quietly when Minhyuk started crying after the first few eliminations.
Minhyuk makes his new love for Monsta X apparent in all his videos – his reaction videos now include all of Monsta X’s music videos (Trespass and Rush, so far) and his vlogs contain Monsta X as background music.
Changkyun, however, doesn’t want to reveal that he’s gotten that into Monsta X yet. For some reason, he feels embarrassed that he became such a huge fan in only a matter of days. He likes hip-hop and rap in general, but there’s something about Monsta X’s music that really gets him hooked – especially their rapper, Lee Jooheon.
He raps with so much passion, even in pre-debut days and during NO.MERCY, he took whatever lyrics he’d composed, and spat out fire. Changkyun, who does rap covers, can’t help but admire him. It’s not a crush, whatever Minhyuk says, he tells himself, I just really look up to him as a rapper.
It’s what he continues telling himself, even as he’s scrolling through fantaken pictures on Twitter, which have nothing to do with Jooheon rapping.
✖
That is, until the day Minhyuk walks in on him composing his own rap lyrics to Monsta X’s new song, Hero.
“Oh my god… That’s not – is it?” Minhyuk breathes, eyes wide, tripping over his own feet as he scrambles closer to get a look at Changkyun’s screen.
Changkyun quickly slams the laptop shut, cutting off the audio. “Uh… no?”
“It is! It’s Monsta X’s Hero! Are you finally doing a Monsta X cover?” Minhyuk bobs his head in excitement, shaking Changkyun’s shoulders.
“No, it’s just stuff I’m working on. I don’t intend on posting it.” Changkyun shakes him off, but pats his shoulder when Minhyuk pouts in response.
“Why not? It sounded good.” Minhyuk says.
“I don’t know… I just don’t feel comfortable, I guess,” Changkyun replies hesitantly. “It doesn’t feel good enough.”
“But Changkyun, you’re so talented, anything you create will be good!” Minhyuk raises his hand to shush him when he opens his mouth to protest. “No, wait, listen. I didn’t want to tell you, but I could hear you working on that song through the walls of our apartment for the past two days.” Ignoring the sudden flush in Changkyun’s cheeks, he continues.
“It’s good, it’s really good. You’re worried that fans of Monsta X won’t like it, right? That’s why you feel so pressured. But how do you know whether they’d like it or not, until you post it? Remember what I told you when I first convinced you to start a YouTube channel?” Minhyuk says gently.
“You said ‘fuck those Boston kids’…” Changkyun mumbles.
“Besides that.”
“Okay, hyung, I get it. Thanks.” Changkun lets out a breath, then smiles tentatively at Minhyuk. “I’ll upload it today. But if I get hate, you’re treating me to ice cream, okay?”
Laughing, Minhyuk ruffles his hair affectionately. “Of course.”
✖
Changkyun waits until night time to upload the video, out of some strange notion that if he uploads the video quickly and then goes to sleep immediately, he won’t see the results of his upload.
The video has been edited and left to sit in his folder since the afternoon, but his cursor hovers over the ‘Upload’ button and refuses to click.
He thinks about Boston, how different he was just a year ago, the words Minhyuk had said to him back then. It takes a few minutes, but he steels himself.
He clicks ‘Upload’.
✖
Twitter:
@IMwhatiam uploaded a new video.
“hey everyone, I’ve been experimenting lately and created a rap for monsta x’s hero. check them out – they’re really good :) hope you all enjoy!
YouTube Recommended:
HERO (MONSTA X RAP COVER) – IMwhatiam
Uploaded 23 minutes ago.
Jooheon stares, wide-eyed at the iPad screen. There’s no way, he thinks, No fucking way. Even as he’s scrambling for headphones and jamming them into the device, even as he’s clicking on the video, his mind keeps screaming holy shit there is no way I.M actually covered a monsta x song –
But he did. He did and it was amazing.
Jooheon lies in bed, allows the sound of I.M’s deep and borderline husky voice wash over him. His heart pounds in his chest at the sound of I.M’s voice actually rapping to their song. His song.
He replays the part that I.M inserted himself into, right after the first chorus of Hero, and wonders what it would be like to rap with I.M on stage.
He’s never seen I.M’s face when he raps during his videos, because he always wears a mask. But he knows, just from the sound of raw energy in his voice, that it would be fucking incredible.
✖
While he’s fast asleep, Changkyun’s phone lights up with notifications.
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