How To Save A Life
How To Save A Life
2pm; OT7
Word Count: 3,242
*** written for the kpop_olymfics challenge. tbh, this was SO hard for me to write. I was very tempted to just delete this whole fic at the end of February ;_;
SPRING
It starts with seven boys. Seven boys who, more or less, all want the same thing; to sing, to dance, to entertain, to be an idol.
They come from everywhere. They come from Seattle, Los Angles, Boston, Busan, Daegu, Ilsan, and Seoul.
They audition in various ways. They compete in survivals shows, they audition to be a models, their mother urges them, they do it on accident. But what counts is they make it, they make it into JYPE and they are trainees. They are one step closer to their dreams.
Seven boys audition for JYPE and make it, seven boys participate in a documentary called Hot Blood, seven boys train for months and months to accomplish their dreams.
Seven boys become seven men who become 2PM.
~ ~ ~
Jaebeom still isn't entirely clear why he was chosen to be the leader of 2PM. Sure, he was the oldest of the seven of them, but age was just a number. Junsu sang exponentially better than him, Junho was just as good (if not better) a dancer as him, Chansung was just as mature as him (if not more), Wooyoung was just as driven as him, and Taecyeon was a much more suited leader. But nonetheless, JYP had made it official; 2PM's leader was Park Jaebeom.
~ ~ ~
It's when they're practicing their choreography days before their debut that Jaebeom thinks he finally realizes why JYP made him the leader.
Taecyeon and Chansung are both having trouble with their flips, and Jaebeom shakes his head as they try again, and are out of sync. "Hey, what's up guys? This isn't like you, I know you can do those flips in your sleep. What's going on?"
Chansung mumbles something unintelligible and looks at the ground, and Taecyeon rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. "Um, I guess we're just...nervous?" Taecyeon mumbles, not meeting Jaebeom's eyes.
So Jaebeom decides that for the next week, he's going to ensure that Chansung and Taecyeon can execute their flips perfectly, that they could do it with their eyes closed if they had to.
The only problem with his plan is that if he's helping them, he can't practice his own acrobatics for their debut.
But Jaebeom is 2PM's leader, and if that means he has to help his members out, and then stay another couple of hours at the studio practicing when he could be sleeping, well, then he was going to do it. He would wear himself out as much as he could to make sure that their debut went as smoothly as possible.
Jaebeom knows that he can't let 2PM down, no matter what the situation is.
~ ~ ~
It's the day they had all been waiting for, the day they had been preparing for, they day they had been dreaming of. They were going to perform for the first time as 2PM on stage. They'd gone through months and months of training, tears, sweat and blood to make it where they were now, and they couldn't have been more nervous.
They stand backstage in a lopsided circle, awkwardly shuffling their feet and not meeting anyone else's nervous glances. Quiet coughs fill the room as they each take turns clearing their throats, trying to say something - anything - to lift the tension in the room.
It's Park Jaebeom who breaks the silence first.
"Hey, guys."
His voice is low, but calm and steady. He looks down at his own shoe, kicking at some non-existent object on the ground. He looks up, glances at each member quickly, and runs a hand shakily through his mohawk, giving everyone a timid smile.
"So, I know we're all pretty nervous, right? But...let's just go out there and give it our best, okay?" and his timid little smile stretches across his face until his eyes are little half crescent moons. He's confident that they'll do good, confident that the crowd will love them, and confident that they'll do their best. The others can practically feel his confidence for them, and they loosen up, smiles spreading across their faces and eagerness and excitement flashing across their eyes.
"2PM, you're on in one minute!" a voice calls, and the smiles and confidence that had just been radiating from them disappears as quickly as it came.
Park Jaebeom cocks his head, wheels and gears turning, ideas and thoughts processing. His eyes light up as he looks at each member, smile returning to his face.
"Hey guys, what time is it now?"
Chansung looks at him in disbelief. "It's time for us to go on stage, hyung," and Taecyeon hits him on the back of the head. Wooyoung and Nichkhun mutter something about maknaes being ridiculous, Junsu simply shakes his head, and Junho tries to stifle a giggle.
Jaebeom only smiles, "It's 2PM."
Chansung makes a soft "oh" of realization and Taecyeon hits him again as Jaebeom asks them once again, "What time is it now?"
"It's 2PM!"
SUMMER
Jaebeom is having the time of his life. He's performing with six other boys that he's grown to love on a stage with hundreds of girls screaming his name. It's his dream come true, and he couldn't imagine a better group of people to share the experience with.
~ ~ ~
They're in shock the first time they win a Mutizen. Chansung stares at the MC in disbelief as Junsu hugs him too tightly, Wooyoung jumps as Nichkhun smiles, Taecyeon and Junho receive hugs from other idols, and Jaebeom stands in the back and watches as his boys, his brothers, finally get the recognition they deserve.
The MCs give the trophy and flowers to Jaebeom, and he in turns hands the trophy to Junsu so that he can talk too loudly and too excitedly into the microphone. The others crowd around him, and Junho takes the microphone from Jaebeom, and then Taecyeon steals it, and then Junsu and Chansung share, and they're all just a restless mess of thankfulness and happiness.
When they win their second Mutizen in a row, emotions soar high once again. Taecyeon takes the initiative to speak coherently before Junho takes the microphone and mumbles something excitedly. Jaebeom holds the flowers once again, and smiles as he looks over the other members.
After their third win, they've mastered the art of passing the microphone and talking coherently. They smile with their teeth and their eyes, and they bow numerous times. Jaebeom is proud - ridiculously proud - and his heart swells as he performs an encore of Again And Again with his band mates.
~ ~ ~
When the first episode of Wild Bunny airs on MNET, they're ecstatic. They've come so far in such a short amount of time that they can hardly believe it. Months and months of training finally paid off. They'd perform at Gayo Daejun, they'd been featured on Idol Army for all of season three, they'd won three Mutizens, and now they had their very own show.
Wooyoung is dazed by how fast this has all happened. When he's dozing off in the van, flashes of everything that has happened in the past months swirl behind his eyelids. It makes his head dizzy and Wooyoung thinks that maybe they should take a small break - just to get their bearings straight. He doesn't want them to lose their way amidst all of the fame and glory.
~ ~ ~
Sometimes Chansung lies on the floor at night and thinks. He thinks about how quickly they've become stars, how it's not really fair that they haven't even been around that long and they already have so much going for them. He wonders how long they'll last. Not forever, he thinks, but close to it.
Because he was with his brothers, and nothing could go wrong. They were on top of the world and they were invincible.
AUTUMN
Websites are refreshing hourly, netizens are waiting for the latest in the new 2PM scandal. Park Jaebeom has denounced Korea, and Koreans are not happy.
Taecyeon doesn't leave the computer for more than five minutes at a time, he's put himself on damage control duty, and he's in charge of seeing how the Korean public views Jaebeom.
It's not looking too good, currently.
He's so into this newest development - a suicide petition for Jaebeom, honestly the things these people do - that he doesn't hear someone creeping up behind him, doesn't notice someone reading over his shoulder.
It's not until there's a sharp intake of breath that he notices that Jaebeom was behind him. It's not until he sees Jaebeom's wide eyes watering up that he realizes that Jaebeom saw the suicide petition. It's not until Jaebeom starts shaking that Taecyeon hurriedly turns off the computer and holds Jaebeom.
It's not until an hour later, after Jaebeom has cried all his tears onto Taecyeon's shoulder, that Taecyeon realizes how serious the situation really was.
~ ~ ~
Chansung sits on the floor outside of Jaebeom's room, listening to the man moving around and packing. It was less than an hour ago that he broke it to the group; he was leaving.
He can't understand why he was leaving them. Doesn't he know that they need him? Doesn't he know that they're not seven, they're one? They'll deal with this together, they'll make it through this together.
"Hyung, do you really have to leave?" Junho asks from inside the room suddenly, mirroring Chansung's thoughts.
"Yes, I do," Jaebeom's voice is quiet and strained and Chansung can almost see his puffy, red eyes.
"But why?"
Chansung hears Jaebeom sigh, and he imagines him running a hand through his hair tiredly. He'd been doing that a lot in the past few days.
"It would be better for the group if I left. It's just - you know - "
"No, I don't know. Why?" Junho's voice raises slightly at the end, and Chansung knows he's trying to keep calm.
It's quiet for the next several minutes except somebody moving around the room.
"Junho, I'm leaving and there's nothing you or the rest of the guys can say. No - listen to me for a second," Jaebeom mutters so quietly that Chansung can barely hear. "I'm leaving because there's a chance we won't be able to recover from this. I - I can't stay knowing that I might bring you guys down. If the only way to make sure you don't fail is to leave, well...then I'll leave."
"Hyung! You can't leave because of that! We need you, we can make it through this together."
Jaebeom doesn't reply, and seconds later Junho storms angrily out of the room and walks right pass Chansung. Jaebeom follows him out of the room, then stops once he sees Chansung. He smiles sadly and helps him off the floor with a small, "Hey."
Chansung is about to walk off to go find Junho when he realizes he should say something - anything - to Jaebeom. He opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. Jaebeom shakes his head and retreats back into his room.
~ ~ ~
The day Jaebeom leaves, Nichkhun goes to JYP's office.
"Why are you letting him do this?" he asks quietly.
"Nichkhun, it's for the best-"
"Don't give me that," he interrupts. "Don't give me that 'it's for the best' bullshit."
JYP frowns at him from across his desk and sighs. "Look, it really is for the best. And it's what he wants. He came to us first asking to resign. We're not forcing him to do anything he doesn't want to."
"So you're telling me that Jaebeom voluntarily decided to leave?"
"Yes."
"There has to be some other way. You can't just let him-"
"If Jaebeom doesn't want to stay, we are not going to force him. You just need to accept this, Nichkhun."
"But what if we just delay our album a bit-"
"No. The album will be released as planned."
"What about his parts?"
"You'll be going into the studio next week to rerecord his parts."
"So we're just erasing him-"
"Well, if he isn't technically apart of 2PM anymore there wouldn't really be a reason for his vocals to be on the album."
"You're wrong, Jaebeom will always be apart of 2PM."
~ ~ ~
Wooyoung cries, and thinks back to a time one year ago when he was crying much like he is now (but for a completely different reason). He thinks how he sat alone in the practice room, fingers softly tracing pianos keys as tears ran down his face. He remembers how Jaebeom hyung had crept quietly into the room and slid into the spot next to him and placed a bowl of ice cream in front of him.
"Don't cry, Wooyoung-ah," he whispered, "We're here for you."
Wooyoung cries harder at the memory, cries harder at his hyung's past kindness and his hyung's current misfortune, and cries harder because there is no amount of ice cream that could ease his tears away this time.
~ ~ ~
The plane touches down in Seattle, Washington, and Jaebeom steps off the plane. He spots his mother in the deserted terminal and heads in her direction. She meets him halfway and pulls him into a hug, "Shh, don't say anything."
He hasn't spoken a word to anybody since they left South Korea, and he's not sure if he even remembers how to speak properly.
"It's okay, Jay. Every thing's gonna' be okay."
And for the first time in a long time, Jaebeom cries in his mother's arms.
WINTER
The boys wake up as usual. They go through the motions of their days, following their schedules like it's their religion. Everything is normal until they get an abnormal phone call from their manager.
Taecyeon is the one that answers.
"Ha-have you guys heard yet?"
"Heard what? Taecyeon tries to keep his voice steady, tries to not let the others hear the fear creeping into his heart at their manager's helpless voice.
"He announced it. It's official. They announced Jay's contract's been terminated."
It isn't the first time that Taecyeon's heard this, but it hurts just as much as the first time. His heart clenches and then falls limp against his rib cage, his breath catches in his throat, and his eyes start to water. He isn't sure how, but suddenly the phone is out of his hand and he can hear Nichkhun angrily yelling and Wooyoung and Chansung are looking at him with wide eyes.
"He announced it, didn't he?" Junho's voice sounds from somewhere outside of Taecyeon's view, but he nods regardlessly, words failing to form coherently in his brain.
There's silence, then a slam, and when Taecyeon looks up Chansung and Wooyoung are gone. Junho shrugs his shoulders and motions to their rooms, and Junsu sits quietly by himself.
It's over.
~ ~ ~
The conference is an obvious failure. Taecyeon reads some of the fans accounts of what transpired and his heart sinks lower and lower. Not one single account is in favor of them, they're all against him, the others, 2PM.
The others already know this, they had expected it. They knew they were being rude at the conference, but they could have cared less. Chansung argued that maybe if enough people hated them, JYP would have to bring Jaebeom back. The others hesitated at this theory, but Junsu was the first one to agree to go along with it. Eventually, the rest followed suit.
Of course, they knew that it would never work.
But Junsu made a valid point. It was important to have some kind of hope that they could bring Jaebeom back. No matter how ridiculous that hope was.
~ ~ ~
Junho lies awake in his bed, tossing and turning and trying to fall asleep but to no avail. The clock reads 3:09AM and he forces himself to close his eyes, to sleep, because he has to wake up in three hours and he rather not run on less than three hours of sleep.
He dreams nothing at first, just darkness and silence. But then he hears whispers of something he can't quite comprehend.
"Traitor."
"How can you live with yourself now?"
"Backstabber."
"How could you throw away your brother like that?"
The whispers get louder and louder, until they're swirling around him. Images of people breaking, ripping, burning their albums flash, mixing in with the crescendo of hate-filled voices. They swirl faster and faster and faster until-
Junho wakes up with a start, cold sweat dripping down his body. He looks wearily at his clock and groans, it reads 3:10AM.
~ ~ ~
"We're really going through with our next mini album?" Nichkhun asks incredulously.
Taecyeon shrugs. "It's not like we have a choice."
Wooyoung and Junho glance at each other and Chansung doesn't say anything.
"Jaebeom would have wanted us to go on," Junsu mutters, and Nichkhun scoffs and glares at him. Junsu looks at him dismally and doesn't say anything else.
The room is silent.
"I think he's right, Nichkhun," Wooyoung suddenly speaks up.
The others stare at Wooyoung in surprise. Since Jaebeom had left, he had been the quietest member in group discussions, he had been the last one to state his opinion. They had all figured it was due to Jaebeom-withdrawal.
"Jaebeom would have wanted us to go on. He helped us build this up, and he wouldn't have wanted it to come crashing down because of him. We have to keep going, we can't let him down."
Junsu pats Wooyoung on the back and gives him a small smile, and Nichkhun's gaze softens as he realizes the truth in Wooyoung's words.
They were seven, first and always. But for the moment, they had to move on as six. That didn't mean they were leaving behind their seventh member, no. They were moving forward for that seventh member. Because 2PM would forever be seven.
~ ~ ~
Park Jaebeom no longer goes by the name of Jaebeom. He goes by Jay Park now, as he did before he went to South Korea.
Jay listens to 2PM's new album and smiles. Taecyeon was just as beastly with his rapping as ever, Junsu and Junho still blew him away with their amazing vocals, and Wooyoung and Chansung had improved their singing skills vastly. And Nichkhun - Jay smiles the most while listening to Nichkhun's part - Nichkhun is rapping and Jay couldn't be happier.
Just recently, Jay has figured out that he can leave bulletins on his youtube account, and so he posts a little message in support of his brothers.
khuns rap part is fire. 2pm “without you” go check it out ! =)
He doesn't really care if some people will angrily comment that they don't want to hear about 2PM. He doesn't really care that some people will tell him to not think about them. He really just doesn't care. He lives by love&respect, and he's sure that eventually these mislead people will learn the error of their ways.
Jay knows that 2PM is six members now. But he knows that to get where they were now, they had to be seven members. He knows that he helped them in a way that no one else could. And he's proud of them, more proud of them then he's ever been of himself.
They went through hell, and made it out alive.