Chapter Text
“Tae! Hurry up we’re gonna be late!” Jimin screams right outside Taehyung’s room as he bangs his fist on the door. He vaguely hears a loud thud and muffled curses coming inside the room.
“Taehyung! Come on!” He continues to bang his fist on the door.
“I’m coming!” Taehyung shouts.
Jimin releases a heavy breath. He had been waiting outside for god knows how long and both his voice and fists hurt which was very bad. He can’t lose his voice and put too much pressure on his hands because he has an important gig today.
“I swear if you don’t leave your room at the count of three, I’m gonna break down the door!” Jimin warns, half serious and half jokingly. He really doesn't know how he'll break down the door if it comes to that.
“3”
“Okay! Okay! Ohmygod wait!”
“2” Jimin hears another thump come from the room.
“2 and a half”
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” A loud crash comes from inside.
“Holy shit, Tae are you oka-“
The door bursts open, almost hitting Jimin on the face, “YA KIM TAE-“
Jimin doesn’t finish his sentence. Right in front of him was Taehyung wearing blue metallic pants. Taehyung grins at Jimin and loops his arm around his, “Okay let’s go.”
“What the hell are you wearing?” Jimin almost shrieks.
“No time for explaining. Come on we’re gonna be late!” Taehyung says, tugging on Jimin’s arm.
Jimin rolls his eyes and pulls Taehyung outside their shared flat, “Seriously Tae you can be late as much as you want when it’s just us but not this!” He locks the door to their flat and climbs inside Yoongi’s car.
“We’ve been waiting for almost thirty minutes,” Lisa whines.
“Ya Jimin, don’t you know how to use your phone?” Yoongi says, irritation evident in his voice as he starts driving the car.
Jimin checks his phone and sees seven missed calls and three texts from Yoongi and five texts from Lisa.
“You could have just gone inside, you know,” Jimin replies, going through his phone.
From: Yoongi
6:05pm
we’re here
From: Lisa
6:07
where are u???
From: Yoongi
6:12
are you coming or what
From: Lisa
6:17pm
we’re gonna be late :’(
From: Lisa
6:20pm
yoongi’s mad :((
From: Yoongi
6:23pm
we’re leaving
From: Lisa
6:24pm
don’t believe yoongi we’re still here :-)
“Do you really expect me to do that?” Yoongi replies.
“You could have asked Lisa or Jisoo,” Jimin argues.
“Lisa’s Lisa and Jisoo’s asleep.”
Taehyung gasps, “Lisa! I told you not to let Jisoo sleep before the show! Her voice will be asleep and tired when she wakes up and that would be really bad! She’ll have do at least ten voice exercises just to wake up her voice.”
Taehyung leans toward the front and shakes Jisoo from the front seat. Yoongi blindly swats his hands away, “Stop. You know she had overtime shifts this week.”
“But-“ Yoongi briefly glares at Taehyung then returns concentrating on driving.
Taehyung huffs, “Fine, but I’m waking her up in ten minutes.” Yoongi grunts in acknowledgement.
They were already late for their call time which was an hour before their set. Traffic was really bad, barely moving and they only had thirty minutes left before their set would start.
“Why did you guys have to take such a long time? Ughhhhh!” Lisa complains, slapping Jimin’s arm who was beside him.
“Hey it wasn’t my fault. Tae was the one keeping us from leaving,” Jimin counters.
“Guys please. I had to find my blue metallic pants for this gig!” Taehyung explains, lifting his legs up despite being cramped in the car.
“You’re not even a member of the band,” Jimin deadpans.
Taehyung clicks his tongue and waggles his finger at Jimin, “But I’m your manager so I have to look good.”
Lisa giggles mockingly, “Sure, you look good in those metallic pants.”
“Excuse me! These pants make my ass look good,” Taehyung points out, lifting his butt from his seat and wiggling it at Lisa’s face.
“Kim Taehyung, get your ass away from my face!” Jimin shouts, who was between Lisa and Taehyung. It was difficult to sit in the middle of the two, always bickering and riling up each other, even about the most pointless things. One time they were arguing about how toilet paper should be placed. It was a very detailed argument.
Yoongi rolls his eyes from the driver seat, “Tae, sit down. You don’t have an ass.”
"See. Yoongi understand," Lisa says mockingly, sticking her tongue out at him.
“Yoongooooooo why? Now Lisa's mean to me,” Taehyung whines loudly, slouching in his seat and crossing his arms.
"Stop calling me Yoongoo. It sounds like a disgusting bean"
"But Yoongooooo!"
“Oh you guys are here,” Jisoo says, stretching from her seat, having just woken up.
“Slept well?” Yoongi ask, softly.
Jisoo smiles, “Yeah, thanks.”
“Eugh. You guys are disgusting,” Taehyung makes retching faces and noises, making Jimin laugh.
Lisa rolls her eyes, “Of course they would. They had history.”
“Until Yoongi realized he was gay,” Jisoo continues, giggling and slapping Yoongi’s arm.
Lisa shakes her head, “How you guys stayed friends after you broke up still remains a mystery to me.”
“We’re cool, seriously. No hard feelings,” Jisoo shrugs as she fiddles with the radio.
Baby by Justin Bieber starts playing on the radio. “Oh my god this is my jam!” Taehyung screams, bouncing on his seat and pumping his fist up and down.
“OHHHHHHHHH!!!! OHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”
Jimin groans, massaging his forehead, “I had to listen to him sing to old Justin Bieber songs for two straight weeks. Two fucking straight weeks!! He stopped three days ago and now it’s gonna start again.” Jimin nearly cries.
Lisa pats Jimin’s back, “Poor Jimin.”
“AND I WAS LIKE BABY BABY BABY OHHHHHHHH!!!!!”
Yoongi smiles from his seat.
-----
The car ride was filled with laughter with Taehyung making Jisoo do ten ridiculous voice exercises, each sounding like distressed animal noises or even some questionable sounds. There was also loud singing (from Tae who insisted on playing Justin Bieber's old albums) and playful banters. Before they know it, they were finally at the venue with ten minutes to spare. Taehyung, being the manager, rushes to the bar’s manager to notify their arrival while grabbing the attention of many people because of his shiny pants.
“Excuse me, we’re the band that’s gonna perform at 8,” the manager looks at Taehyung, scans him up and down, his gaze lingering on the blue metallic pants.
“Oh! Uh-I’m sorry but you guys were late so we contacted the backup band. They’re gonna play in your place,” the manager explains, his gaze still lingering on Taehyung’s pants.
“But you promised us that we were gonna play?” Taehyung argues.
“We also told you that your call time was an hour before your set but you weren’t here,” the manager shrugs.
“B-but we-”
“I’m sorry but the backup band is already here and they’re all set up,” he says, gesturing to a group of people with guitars and equipment beside the stage. The manager pats Taehyung’s shoulder, stares at Taehyung’s metallic blue pants and walks away.
Taehyung mechanically walks back to the band, his mouth wide open.
“So what did the manager say?” Yoongi asks, fiddling with his guitar.
“I-I, W-we-“
The lights dim. A guitar riff begins to play accompanied by the beat of the drums. The tune was heavy but had a catchy tune to it, making the crowd bob their heads to the beat. The lights flicker and open, revealing two guys and two girls. The guy in the middle had parted bangs and dark brown hair, a red guitar slung around him. The girl at his right had a black guitar and straight long light orange hair. At his left was a girl with long wavy dark brown hair and a bass guitar on her. At the back was a guy with pink hair on the drums. “Good evening, we are Sour Cheeks!"
“What the fuck?” Yoongi says, looking back and forth between the stage and Taehyung.
“That’s the backup band…” Taehyung explains lamely.
“Hey guys! I’m Jungkook, that’s Rose on the guitar, Jennie on the bass and Namjoon our drummer,” Jungkook introduces, pointing at each member one by one.
“I thought we had a slot,” Jimin asks, his gaze landing on the middleman on the stage.
“I guess not anymore,” Jisoo frowns.
Jungkook begins strumming a series of chords, “This is our first song, Boy in Luv. Enjoy the night!” he shouts to the mic. Namjoon claps his drumsticks and starts playing the drums, Jennie and Rose playing along.
Lisa tightens her grip on her drumsticks, unamused with the situation, “This is so unfair! This could have been our big break. Someone could have signed us!”
Silence falls among them as they watch the band on stage, a bitter atmosphere surrounding them. This gig was important to them because they were supposed to perform in the most famous music bar in town where scouts from different record labels visit to sign potential bands. It was indeed very frustrating for them.
Jimin breaks the silence, “They sound good though,” he mutters, earning himself glares from his band members. Jimin doesn't notice, too focused on the guy in the middle. The band on stage was good. Not super amazing (like Fall Out Boy or Paramore) but good enough to keep the crowd hooked and going. But it didn't really matter because that was supposed to be their set. They were supposed to be the on stage performing.
Taehyung pulls at Jimin’s ear, “Oww fuck, Tae! Let go!”
“Do you seriously think that band is better than us?” Taehyung asks, glaring at Jimin and feeling quite offended. Taehyung takes his job as the band's manager seriously. He's the one who's scheduling band practices, making sure their instruments and equipment were fine, nagging them to make more songs and looking for gigs for them to perform. Jimin, being Taehyung's best friend for years, knows that Taehyung feels really bad for making them late and making them miss an opportunity as big as this that's why he's acting defensive and whiny.
“I-I they’re okay I guess?” Jimin carefully answers. The guy in the middle, Jungkook, if he remembers correctly was singing, his voice soft and smooth yet very powerful. His biceps were flexing from strumming the guitar and his neck was glistening with sweat from the heat of the lights and moving around.
“Ugh! Freaking Sour Cheeks. And their stupid ass name! I will not forget this band!” Taehyung says, anger apparent in his voice, his knuckles clenched tightly.
“It’s okay. There will be other opportunities,” Yoongi mutters, yet there was an underlining bitterness in his tone.
Hold me tight before I kiss you
Before my heart lets you go
Say what you want
Say what you want
What is it that you really want?
“Let’s leave. Seeing them on stage when you were supposed to be there annoys me so much,” Taehyung tugs on Yoongi’s arm, “Come on!”
Yoongi allows himself to be dragged by Taehyung, Jisoo and Lisa following along. When they were a few meters away, Taehyung looks back, “Jimin are you coming?
“You can go ahead. I’ll just leave my stuff with you.” Jimin walks to Taehyung and gives him his bass guitar. “I’ll take a cab home.”
“Don’t you feel down at all?” Jisoo asks, though there was no judgement in her voice.
“Yeah I’m good. I just want to be alone for a while. These past few days has been stressful you know, with school and stuff,” Jimin says, lying through his teeth. Though, he wasn’t lying entirely. He was really tired from school and practicing dance all afternoon, with him being a third year dance major and a music minor while being in a band.
“Fine. Stay safe.” Taehyung says in a clipped tone, not completely buying his lie.
Jimin nods, only sparing him a brief glance and continues watching the performance, “Yeah, you too,” though he was grateful that his friend wasn’t asking any more questions.
Taehyung scrunches his eyebrow, curious at what or rather who Jimin was staring at. He follows his line of sight and sees the lead vocalist of the band on stage.
“Park Jimin, I’m watching you!” Jimin blushes.
Yoongi pulls Taehyung’s arm, “Let’s go.”
Once he sees that Taehyung and his bandmates aren’t around anymore, he sits at an unoccupied table near the stage. Sour Cheeks were playing an upbeat song. He bobs his head to the beat, enjoying how appealing the tune is. The guy on the drums, Namjoon (he thinks), was currently rapping. His pronunciation was clear, swag laced in his voice yet it still matched the rock genre they were playing.
His gaze moves back to Jungkook, entranced with his singing, his playing and his movements. Jungkook looked so hot with his piercing dark brown eyes, muscular arms, strong form and toned thighs. The fact that he was wearing a tight black shirt and ripped skinny jeans while intensely shredding on his guitar and biting his lips only made it worse. Jimin was almost drooling (he was).
He hears the slide of the chair beside him “Oh Hoseok! You’re here.” Jimin was surprised to see his school mate and dancing partner.
“You told me about your band performing tonight. I have to go of course,” Hoseok says cheekily as he ruffles Jimin’s hair.
“Hey stop that! I styled my hair for almost an hour,” Jimin complains, pushing Hoseok’s hands away.
“But it just looks messy?”
“That was the style I was going for. The messy yet hot look.”
“I think you missed the hot part,” Hoseok chuckles, “I’m just wondering though why you’re not on stage and why my roommate is on stage.”
“What?”
“Jungkook’s my roommate and he’s the freshmen I was helping out. Remember I told you about it a few months ago,” Hoseok explains, “That’s why I couldn’t hang out with you sometimes.”
Jimin nods his head dumbly, clearly surprised, “I see but how come I never met him?”
“Dude, you’re always busy practicing your ass off and you never asked.” Hoseok shrugs.
“Right…”
“Are you guys okay though?” Hoseok asks, concern evident in his voice.
“I w-we,” Jimin shakes his head still quite frustrated, “This was our chance you know. We were hoping that there would be a hotshot scout out there who could get us to sign a record deal.”
“Maybe it’s not yet the right time.”
“Maybe,” Jimin trails off, “They’re good though.”
“Yeah?” Hoseok says, looking at the stage, “I hear Jungkook sing in the shower almost every day. That kid’s got talent.”
“I can see that.” Jimin smiles as Jungkook starts singing again. Hoseok grins when he sees Jimin staring and smiling.
“Ooooh I see somone has a crush.”
Jimin blushes, “It’s not like that. He just sings really well and okay maybe he’s a little too hot.”
“You want his number?” Jimin bites his lips, choosing to ignore what Hoseok said. He did want Jungkook’s number but he wasn’t sure. He already had a fair share of bad relationships in the past and he didn’t know if he was willing to risk it again.
“This is our last song for tonight.” Jungkook speaks, “We’re gonna slow things down. This is Just One Day.”
Rose starts plucking his guitar, Jungkook’s guitar harmonizing with her as Namjoon plays the drum along with them. Jennie starts rapping, Jungkook harmonizing with her from time to time. When the chorus comes, Jungkook starts to sing, his voice so sweet, emotions evident in his voice. His eyes were closed, lips so close to the microphone and his body swaying to the beat.
Just one day, if I can be with you
Just one day, if I can hold your hands
Just one day, if I can be with you
Just one day (just one day)
If only we can be together
Jimin sways to the beat, lips curving upwards at the message of the song and the sweet tune. When Jungkook finishes his part, he opens his eyes and meets Jimin’s. Jungkook smiles at him and winks before focusing on performing. Jimin blushes while Hoseok pokes his side, witnessing their brief moment.
The band continues playing, the crowd waving their arms along when Rose begins waving hers. Throughout the remaining parts of the song, Jimin notices how Jungkook would steal glances at him and subtly look away when he would catch him. It was so cute and endearing. The song climaxes, Jungkook sings the last few lines.
Can you please stay with me?
Their gaze locks, trap in their own world.
-----
Jungkook was too mesmerized with the guy he was staring at that he only comes back to reality when he hears numerous clapping and feels Jennie pinching his arm.
He forces a grin, arms still stinging, “Thank you for listening! Enjoy the rest of the night.” He removes his guitar and goes down the stage with his band.
“Wow guys! That was an awesome performance,” Jin exclaims who ran immediately to them after they finished performing. Throughout their set, Jin was waving the light sticks he brought, catching looks from some people. He didn’t really care because he was supporting his friends and boyfriend.
Rose was jumping, adrenaline still pumping through her veins from performing, “Yes! Let’s do this again! Please!”
“Group hug!” Jennie squeals. They pull each other in a tight hug despite being sweaty and gross from performing. Tonight was their biggest gig yet, the past few weeks not being kind to them. They were going from one music bar to another, asking if there were any available slots for them to perform. Fortunately for them, the band that was supposed to play tonight was late.
“I’m gonna get changed first. I’m really sweaty,” Namjoon says, his grey shirt sticking to him with wet patches around it.
Jin pinches his nose and makes a face, “And you smell gross too.”
“Hey don’t be mean! I just did a bomb ass performance,” Namjoon whines, trying to look cute at his boyfriend.
Rose laughs, “And you also sweat buckets every time we perform. Go change, Namjoon.” Namjoon grumbles, handing his drumsticks to Jin and walks off to change.
Jungkook's eyes scan the bar and falls on the guy he saw during their performance, “Uh guys. I’ll be right back.” He passes his guitar to Jin and walks away, heading to the direction of the guy and surprisingly Hoseok.
Jungkook was very nervous. It’s weird because he was just confidently performing in front of around a hundred people and here he is now, tense and awkward. Though, he reasons to himself that he’s not the type of person to make the first move.
Usually people would make the first move on him and he would politely decline. No one really interested him. But the guy sitting in one of the tables with Hoseok looked so cute and adorable and he can’t pass up an opportunity like this. The guy was also staring back at him while they were performing. He swears he wasn’t imagining it.
“H-hey,” Jungkook stutters, standing in front of their table.
“Jungkook!” Hoseok screams and pulls Jungkook in a tight hug, “You grow up so fast, child. I remember when you were a stuttering mess during your first day in college,” he wipes a fake tear from his eyes, “Oh how fast time passes by.”
Jungkook rolls his eyes at him, pushing himself from the suffocating tight hug. “Hoseok, really?”
“Uhm hi,” Jimin says, feeling awkward with how close the two was.
Hoseok jumps back to his seat, “Oh Jungkook this is Jimin, my dancing partner. I told you about him before but you never met.”
Jungkook eyes widen, “Oh. Wow.”
Hoseok stands up and pushes Jungkook to his seat, “I think I see Jin calling me. Catch up with you guys later.” He winks at Jungkook before going off to where Jin was.
A brief silence falls between them, both trying to look anywhere but to each other. Jimin was playing with his fingers while Jungkook was looking at his bandmates who was laughing with Hoseok.
“Uh hi I’m Jimin,” Jimin starts, smiling shyly.
“I’m Jungkook,” he replies, finally looking at Jimin.
“I know.”
“So uh we uh y-you uh-“
Jimin giggles and Jungkook feels his heart skip a beat. Maybe even twice. It sounds so fucking cheesy and cliche but he really felt his heart jump with how cute that sounded.
“You guys were great up there,” Jimin smiles, unaware of how badly he was affecting Jungkook.
“Oh yeah?” Jungkook scratches the back of his neck and tries to compose himself, “I think we’re pretty decent.”
“You’re fingering was amazing,” Jimin blurts out. Jungkook chokes on his spit, nearly knocking down the table centerpiece in front of him.
“Uhh I mean you play the guitar really well and your bandmates played well too,” Jimin explains, cheeks flushed, still embarrassed from what he said.
“We got lucky. The band who was supposed to perform was late so we did instead,”
Jimin bites his lip, “That was us,” he mutters quietly.
Jungkook freezes, “Oh.”
Jimin tries to smile, “It’s okay. You guy were great up there and entertained the crowd well.”
“I’m really sorry,” Jungkook mumbles.
“Just… don’t tell your bandmates anymore. I don’t want to rain on your parade. You guys were honestly great.”
“Alright,” Jungkook offers a smile, “Will ice cream tomorrow make up for it?” He doesn’t know where this sudden burst of confidence came from but thank god because Jimin’s smiling brightly now and he thinks he’s nearly blinded and holy shit what’s this feeling in his stomach.
Jimin giggles again, eyes turning into crescents, “You’re lucky you’re cute.”
“I really want to get to know you,” Jungkook blurts out and his mind goes into panic mode because maybe he was too forward.
Jimin blushes, “I think I’d like that too.”
“Uh c-can I get your number so you know I can talk to you easily and uh stuff,” he stutters, fumbling with his phone.
Jimin nods and types in his number. He also gets his phone from his pocket, unlocks it and passes it to Jungkook, “Here so I can also talk to you easily and stuff.”
Jungkook’s face heats up and wordlessly types in his number. Damn was he lucky tonight.
Jimin checks his watch and realizes it’s almost 9pm. He’s been in the bar for almost an hours now. “Hey I’ll be heading out now. I stayed longer that I planned and I think my roommate’s waiting for me already,” Jimin says, standing up from his seat.
“And I’ll wait for your message.”
Jungkook nods dumbly and watches Jimin as he waves at him and walks away. After he sees Jimin gone, he goes back to his bandmates.
“What was that?” Jin inquires, hand on his hip. Hoseok wiggles his eyebrows and gives him a pointed look.
“Uh n-nothing. He said our band sounds great,” Jungkook tries to explain.
“Yeah right,” Jennie snickers.
Namjoon comes bounding to them, “Guess what guys!”
“What?” Rose asks, fixing the strap of her guitar case.
“There was this guy wearing a fancy suit who stopped me on the way to the restroom. He said our band sounded great and he’d want to see more from us someday,” Namjoon says, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
“Holy shit man that’s great!” Jungkook exclaims.
“Oh my god! My friends are gonna be rock stars!” Hoseok screams, clapping his hands excitedly, “Don’t forget me when you’re rich and famous!”
Rose squeals, “This is it fam. Our road to fame!”
It was a great night for Sour Cheeks, especially for Jeon Jungkook.