[G21] REACT TO MY LOVE (1/3)

[kaisooaufest]

Prompt Code:G21
Title: React to My Love
Rating: NC-17
Side pairings (if any):Baekhyun/Minseok
Warnings:age-switch, language, poorly written smut
Word Count:24,301
Summary:In which Jongin meets his favorite YouTube cover artist through one of his best friend Baekhyun’s crazy plans to win over Kim Minseok.
AN: I am glad to have participated in the kaisooaufest! I would like to thank mods for being ever so kind and understanding to us writers! And I would like to thank my beta/buddy C for helping me when I was stuck and had writer’s block! Even with our different (and completely opposite) time zones we managed to get through it! Lastly, it really is my far-fetched dream for Kyungsoo to sing Justin Nozuka’s After Tonight.



“Hello everybody, Kai here back with a new vlog. I know it's been a couple of weeks since my last personal video but school has been kicking my ass with all these midterms so I wasn't able to update as much as I would have liked. But since today marks the first day of winter break as midterms are finally over, I thought it would be fun to record my hang out with my best friend Baekhyun.”

Jongin turned the camera towards an inattentive Baekhyun, who was sitting on his couch looking down and mindlessly playing with the tablet in his lap. He paid no mind to his sun-kissed friend poking at his shoulder and only shrugged the hand off every few seconds or so. Jongin, being as persistent as ever, kept prodding the elder’s shoulder to elicit some type of reaction, even though he was blatantly ignoring Jongin. The boy frowned and called out to his friend.

“Baekhyun! Say hi to the viewers! It’s been so long since you were last in one of my videos.”

The elder finally looked up from his tablet and scowled at the camera before swiftly pushing said object away from his face, clearly annoyed at Jongin’s insistence. For the most part, Baekhyun was usually more than happy to indulge in the requests of his internet famous friend but at times like this, when he’s busy, he just didn’t want to cooperate with the filming going on.

“Not now Kai.”

The camera shifted back to a pouting Jongin, who began to whine at his friend’s protest, “What are you doing that’s so important that you aren't paying any attention to me, your best friend?”

Baekhyun sighed and pressed the pause button on the video he was currently watching. “If you must know, a friend of mine made a video of him and two of his friends singing a cover of a song. Well, actually he is one of the rappers but yeah. He told me to check it out so that’s what I’m doing. Now if you excuse me, I’m going to continue watching. I’ll help you record afterwards.”

Jongin visibly lightened up and settled in closer to his friend on the couch, ignoring the fact that Baekhyun had finally given in to his constant begging. “Oh, I love cover videos. Let me hear the song too.”

Begrudgingly, Baekhyun moved his tablet away from his lap and held it out for the two of them to share. Jongin set his camera down on the table in front of them, but not before positioning it so that both boys were clearly seen through the lens. He definitely had to record most everything they did during the day because honestly on lazy days like the one they were having, the two didn’t really do much except watch movies, eat, and sleep.

That wasn’t enough to make a ten to fifteen minute video, or at least to Jongin it wasn’t anyways.

Even though, Baekhyun looked annoyed a majority of the time, deep down Jongin knew that his best friend had already grown used to his friend’s frequent recording sessions. All his friends had, really. Baekhyun knew how much Jongin’s YouTube channel meant to him and for that Jongin was thankful. After carefully checking to make sure his friend was okay with recording once more, he rested his back against the cushions of the couch.

Once they were settled, Baekhyun pushed play again, resuming the video from where he previously stopped it. Jongin didn’t mind that he missed the first fifteen seconds of the video and proceeded to lean his head onto his friend’s shoulder, closing his eyes to just listen to the music.

From what Baekhyun described to him when he asked, he knew there were three guys sitting in front of microphones singing a song he vaguely remembered as “Guilty”.

The corners of his lips curved upward as the rap continued on. His sister had been so obsessed with the song when he was younger that it was constantly on repeat at his house. He woke to that song, he came back from school to that song, and he even went to sleep with that song. It was annoying but he had grown to love it. From then on, the song always reminded him of his sister.

While it not his favorite song, Jongin still enjoyed listening to the smooth singing and rap but actually hadn’t had a chance to listen to the song since he left home for college. It was a nice reminiscence of his past as he hears it now.

“Since this isn’t really a reaction video I’ll just put the link below so that you guys can watch the video too.” Jongin said talking to the camera, his eyes never opening.

“Hey Baek, which one of the guys is your friend? Has he performed yet?”

“He’s the one that’s rapping right now. He actually goes to our college. We are in the same major so we’ve had many classes together. Plus, he’s also in the music club with me so I know him from that too.”

Jongin briefly nodded in understanding. The first guy rapping, Baekhyun’s friend, Jongin was told, finally finished his solo part and on comes the singer of the chorus. The chorus was always Jongin’s favorite part of the song. He had been a sucker for people with great singing voices, a talent he wished he possessed. At best, he was mediocre but that was okay because dance was his forte and one didn’t need to be a good singer to have fun at karaoke.

He was living proof of that.

Jongin listened for a few seconds, letting the smooth voice soak into his ears, before he shot straight up into a sitting position, hand moving over the tablet to pause the video playing on screen. His eyes widen in astonishment.

Baekhyun whined in protest at the sudden halt of the video, “Hey, what are you doing? Why did you stop the video?”

Jongin looked at his friend confusedly, “What do you mean why did I stop the video? Did you not just hear that perfection come out of his mouth? I think of all the covers I’ve heard of this song, his singing of the chorus was the best. And trust me I’ve listened to a lot of covers of this song. ”

“I only heard his voice briefly before someone interrupted the video,” Baekhyun added snidely under his breath.

Jongin disregarded his friend’s unnecessary bitter comment and looked over at the paused frame on his tablet. Jongin couldn’t really see the face of the singer but when he aimed to press play again on the tablet a frustrated Baekhyun swatted his hand away.

“Well, I heard his voice and it was awesome, dare I say even better than yours. Do you know his name?” Jongin grumbled, sulk written on his face from his friend hitting his hand.

Baekhyun, ignoring the younger, played the video again himself and kept watching the video. It was true that the singer had a good voice, but for Jongin to say that it was better than his own was an insult since Baekhyun was sitting just right there. The least he could have done was say something nice about Baekhyun’s own voice, rather than just stating that the other guy was better. Any good friend would do that, but apparently not Jongin. Baekhyun mentally scowled at his friend.

He had to admit, though, that Jongin was partially right. The guy in the video had a very pleasant tone to listen to; it was so velvety that Baekhyun felt like he was drinking a creamy hot chocolate. It was too smooth. Someone like the guy in the video would be a great addition to the music club, if Baekhyun was speaking honestly. It was too bad that he kept looking down, making his face close to unidentifiable. He could not recognize the other.

“Baekhyun, are you even listening to me? Stop watching the video and pay attention to me.”

Baekhyun let out a huff of annoyance before he turned to make eye contact with Jongin, “Can’t you see I’m trying to look? But I honestly have no clue as to who he is. I can ask my friend Chanyeol if you want me to.”

Jongin pursed his lips together before he picked up his camera and directed it toward to his face. “If any of you know who this singer is, can you please let me know? I would love to do a reaction video to him. I’ll leave the link below in the description box like I said earlier and maybe one of you can help me find him.”

Baekhyun briefly chuckled, “Well that’s one way of finding out who he is.”

Jongin looked over his shoulder, from when he had leaned forward earlier, and softly laughed with his friend.

***

The bright red flashing light at the corner of his small video camera was the only thing reminding Jongin that the camera had already started recording. It’s not that he had forgotten about pushing the record button or anything, but rather he had taken to just staring blankly at his computer monitor.

The low music coming from his phone filled the room as Jongin sat at his computer desk, gathering his thoughts for the video he was about to record. There was something about leaving the camera on while he pondered about what to say that gave him the courage to just begin his monologue and fall into a comfortable rhythm.

One would think that after doing reaction videos week after week for the past year and a half would get easier for Jongin, but no, starting his videos always made him nervous. Even with a loyal amount of subscribers and commenters, it only took one slip of a word or something to garner hate from internet trolls, who would never let his mistake go. The last thing he wanted for his space created for fans were internet trolls who would cause problems for everyone by spreading stupid shit about him. He personally didn’t care about them but he knew his fans would come to his defense and just waste their time feuding with the trolls. He would rather they come interact with him instead.

Kai, his YouTube persona, had attracted fans from various demographics. Although he had abundance of female fans, the amount of male fans he garnered, especially after his coming out video and his regular vlog updates about the college dance crew he was in, skyrocketed , leaving even Jongin amazed. Kai was unique, bold, and someone that embodied all Jongin represented (without having to share his real name, of course). He didn’t have two point nine million subscribers for nothing-well actually, he only needs about twenty thousand more subscribers until he hits three million but who’s counting?

Jongin liked being Kai. Although, admittedly, Kai and Jongin are one in the same so of course Jongin liked being himself. But it was nice to be known without having his real name out there for everyone to know. It also added a bit of mystery to him as his fans try to scavenge for any kind of clues of his real name. He knows he can’t protect it forever but in the meantime he would like to keep it behind closed doors. Luckily, those who have actually found out his name (and there were already a lot) were kind enough to not share it on the internet and spread it around. Even his friends and family addressed him as Kai when he is making vlogs, only to call him Jongin once the camera stopped rolling.

Jongin’s public social media accounts for fans are even under Kai’s name. His private accounts were left hidden away from anyone who Jongin wasn’t close with or anyone who he didn’t interact with often. Sometimes, he felt very relieved for having separate accounts because he was sure if many fans saw the dumb pictures he posted of him and his friends, they would unfollow him faster than he can spell Mississippi.

Finally after a few moments, Jongin took a deep breath and smiled toward the camera, ready to begin recording his weekly reaction video. He turned off the music from his phone and combed his fingers through his hair, fixing the unruly mess.

“Hey guys. Its Kai here back with a new video to react to this week. If you’ve watched the vlog I posted on Tuesday or follow my Twitter account, you would know that I asked all you guys to tell me the name of the guy singing “Guilty” and recommend me some of his videos if he had any, through my Twitter page or in the comment section below, for this week’s reaction.” Jongin gives the camera two thumbs up.

“But before that I would like to say that I’ve read through all your comments on YouTube and on Twitter about last week’s video and I definitely wasn’t anticipating your guys’ eager reaction to my reaction of Zhang Yixing’s dance video.” Jongin laughed to himself as he recalled some of the fan girls’ comments telling him to date Yixing or to react to the video of him dancing in front of the mirrors or even just complimenting how hot Yixing was.

“I’ve actually never seen any of his videos online so it was fun to give my input from one dancer to another on his own choreographies.”

“Truthfully though, I found it a bit awkward to read some of the comments and record the video itself because, for those of you who don’t know or don’t watch my vlogs, Yixing and I are real life friends. But considering he’s becoming a hot topic online for these videos, I thought to myself ‘Of course I have to react to Yixing’s video. He’s my friend so by default as a reactioner I have to embarrass him.’” Jongin combed his fingers through his hair once more and bit down the chuckle ready to escape his lips.

“Yixing actually smacked my arm before giving me a kiss on his cheek the day after the video was released. I think he was saying something about getting almost ten thousand new subscribers and what not, I actually don’t know. I was too grossed out by his saliva still on my face to pay attention to what he was saying. My other friends were laughing really hard though so I guess my misery was entertainment to them, whatever. But since many of you seemed to like Yixing, when I do another dance vlog I’ll be sure to get him in it in all his sweaty glory for you fans. ” Jongin snickered.

“But for this week, I’ll react to the singer from “Guilty”. I was actually surprised at how many people knew who he was. I must not be in the know anymore.”

Jongin stood up from his computer chair and walked over to his bed to grab his phone laid on the edge. He swiftly unlocked the phone and immediately opened up his Twitter application, shaking his head. He clicked on the mentions tab on his Twitter feed and displayed his phone screen to the camera, collectively scrolling down his mentions. Tons and tons of tweets mentioning him were seen.

“This is probably the most mentions I’ve ever gotten on Twitter. My phone kept vibrating in class and the kid next to me glared so hard I thought he was going to burn a hole in my head. I eventually turned my phone on silent but still, if that kid is watching this video I am sorry for the loud buzzing, I’ll remember to turn my phone on silent before lecture starts next time. But nonetheless I read through everything last night before bed and it seemed like a lot, and I mean a lot, of you guys wanted me to react to the singer from the video. For those who don’t know, his channel name is ‘hellodks’.”

Jongin turned away from the camera that was facing him and began typing ‘hellodks’ into the search bar on the YouTube home page. He quickly clicked on first account after the search and loaded the most recent video. Thanks to his good internet speed, the video was able to load within two minutes.

“Okay, everything should be good to go in a minute, just letting the last few seconds load. I clicked on the most recent uploaded video so all I need to do now is play it once it’s ready. Let me just adjust the camera so you can see me better because sometimes I spazz and well it should be in one frame when that happens,” Jongin stretched out his arm to fix the camera angle, making sure that even if he fell to the side, the camera would still catch it. “You would think that since I sit at my desk the camera would be well adjusted but oh well. It’s finished loading so let’s begin in three, two, one.”

The sound of a mouse click was the only thing heard as Jongin sat back in his chair and let the video start playing.

“Okay so it looks like this video was taken from some kind of concert or talent show or something. He’s setting up and there is another guy who has a guitar, tuning the strings. Oh this might be good; acoustics are definitely my weak spot.”

The video soon panned in from far away on the two main guys sitting on the stage. The lankier of the two starts strumming on the guitar as the other one opens his mouth to sing.

If I was your boyfriend, I’d never let you go
I can take you places you ain’t ever been before
Baby, take a chance or you’ll never ever know

“Wow, it’s only been like a five seconds and I’m already in love with his voice. I wish whoever shot this zoomed in closer to his face so I could see him better. But that other guy, the one playing the guitar, is also really good. I think it’s cool when two friends can bond over a similar interest and use that interest to make magic like this.” Jongin frowned and moved toward his monitor as if to get a better look at the smaller boy singing. It proved futile as Jongin sits back in his chair, not a mere few seconds later. “I tried to get a closer look at their faces but the quality isn’t that great so no luck.”

Once he moved back into a comfortable position, Jongin continued on with his mouth slightly hung wide open as ‘hellodks’ kept singing the lyrics. To Jongin, every second seemed even more magical than the last. Comparatively, the chorus of Guilty does not do his voice justice like this song does.

I don’t know about me but I know about you
So say hello to falsetto in three, two,
I’d like to be everything you want,
Hey girl, let me talk to you

“What the hell, that was the best falsetto I’ve ever heard. I think I’m in love. I’m so weak for really good voices and I watch a ton of cover videos but something about this guy’s voice is beautiful. Like if I were him I would totally sing everything in falsetto because it just sounds amazing. I literally got goosebumps on my arms.” Jongin rubbed both of his arms with his hands as if trying to get rid of the chills that place on his skin.

It was unlike Jongin to be left speechless or to not even react during a reaction video. He was known for all the blunt comments he made and for the truths that some people just might be scared to say. But for ‘hellodks’, he could hardly register anything in his mind besides praises.

And I can be a gentleman, anything you want
If I was your boyfriend, I’d never let you go
Tell me what you like, yeah, tell me what you don’t

“Fuck guys, he did another falsetto. It should definitely be illegal for him to sound this good.” Jongin scrunched up his face in shock.

The video was only progressively getting better and he honestly didn’t think that was even remotely possible after the first falsetto happened. The second time he sang the chorus was even better than the first and Jongin was so captivated, he almost forgot that he was making a reaction video.

So give me a chance, ‘cause you’re all I need girl
Spend a week with your boy, I’ll be calling you my girlfriend
If I was your man, I’d never leave you girl
I just want to,

“Is he going to sing a high note?” Jongin sat up straight in his chair, eyes trained on the screen.

If I was your boyfriend, never let you go
Keep you on my arm girl, you’ll never be alone

“Oh! Oh never mind, what a tease. It sounded like he was going to sing a high note but instead he gave us another falsetto but you know what, that’s okay. I’m all for this guy and his singing.” Jongin propped his elbow on the table and continued watching with interest.

If I was your boyfriend, never let you go

The video was coming to an end as ‘hellodks’ sang the last lines of his song. When it was finally over, Jongin could only clap in amazement as he watched the small figure bowing to the crowd and scurrying off stage in the last few seconds of the video. Jongin stopped the video on screen and turned back to face the camera. He sat there for a few minutes staring at his desk before speaking.

“Wow, guys that was…wow. I mean there are no other words that come to my mind besides wow. You guys agree with me, right? With a voice like that there is no way he isn’t popular. Let take me look at his profile.”

The clicking sounds of his computer mouse echoes in the room as he clicks the account name under the video.

“Let’s see, ‘hellodks’ is nineteen years old from California. Oh California boy, just like me. I wonder how many people listen to him. Where is the subscriber thing? Hmm…wait what the heck, why does he only have five hundred and sixty-four subscribers. What is this reality? He is so good yet not that many people subscribed to him.”

Jongin clicked his tongue and looked back into the camera, “Well actually, now he has five hundred and sixty-five subscribers.” Jongin sits back in his chair and ruffles with his hair again in wonder. How could someone so perfect not have enough love on YouTube? Sometimes, even the most talented of people can’t catch a break on a place where undiscovered talent is found all the time.

He kept looking through the profile quietly to himself. Eh, he could always edit out the awkward silence part later when he makes the video. Jongin frowned at the fact that ‘hellodks’ had very few videos uploaded, most of which are with the guy whom was playing the guitar in his “Boyfriend” video. Why did this boy have any videos of just him?

“Okay, I’m done lurking through his profile. On to my reaction, or comments I guess you could say,” Jongin shrugged his shoulders, “After watching that video I think I’m in love. No seriously, everything about that video was perfection, from his vocals to his simple outfit, to the acoustics aspect, even his zoomed out face was perfection.” Jongin’s eyes widen in realization of his fanboying.

“Oops sorry I’m trying not to be biased or anything but yeah. To anyone who hasn’t had the luxury of watching ‘hellodks’ perform this song, you should go watch it right now and tell everyone you know. It seems like he is still fairly new to YouTube since he only has like six videos up. But I definitely recommend you check him out like I’m going to do after this video. It’s just that good. I can’t even fathom how I really have nothing to say right now. The other video didn’t do his voice justice or maybe it’s because he only had a small part whereas here he sang by himself but still! I’ll just end here because I might further embarrass myself and say something shameful, like always. Anyways, don’t forget to subscribe and comment on this video. I’ll be back next Tuesday for a new video so until then. Bye!”

Jongin waved goodbye like a little kid and reached to turn off the camera but quickly stopped midway. “And if you guys could send me links to the best ‘hellodks’ videos that would be great. I don’t even know where to start. Okay but for real now, I’ll see you guys next week bye!”

***

A blaring ringtone unpleasantly woke Jongin up from his sleep. There was only one person who would dare call the college sophomore at this time in the morning and Jongin had half a mind to block his best friend's number from his phone to avoid future situations in which he is being woken up early by the pest. It’s Saturday which means that he can be lazy and not have to worry about school or school related things.

Jongin squint his right eye open to find his phone sitting on the nightstand, still vibrating and playing that annoying tune that he had been desperately meaning to change. He internally debated the pros and cons of picking up the phone call and listening to whatever nonsense Baekhyun had up his sleeve. His junior friend should really come with a warning label; he’s not quite sure if he could deal with Baekhyun so early in the morning (if one considers eleven in the morning early).

But then again, the same obnoxious guy was his best friend who gave him advice and listened when Jongin was having a bad day, so he opted to answer the phone, even though he did so reluctantly.

He mentally groaned and threw the covers that he was buried under off his upper body before sitting up and grabbing his phone beside him to answer the call. “Yes?”

A distinct voice shrieked and started rambling through the phone, startling Jongin. “Minseok is going tonight! Kim Jongin, this is not a drill, Minseok will be at open-mic night tonight. You know how I was debating on going or not earlier this week, well now we are going.”

Jongin arched his eyebrow. “Um, I’m sorry but did you say we were going tonight? As in I have to get out of bed later and go to some campus café to see a bunch of hipster like people strumming guitars and singing songs about who knows what. ”

“First of all, I take offense to that as would the other performers. We don’t strum our own guitars for your information; other people do it for us. Second of all, I need you to go so that you can be my wingman, my moral support, my right hand man. That type of stuff.”

Jongin pursed his lips in annoyance and hung up without saying anything to his best friend. He grumbled to himself before turning his phone on silent and bringing the comforter over his head to wrap himself in a makeshift cocoon.

He knew answering the call was a mistake.

Don’t get him wrong he was all for supporting Baekhyun and his passion (just like Baekhyun supported his video making and dancing) but last time he went to one of those open-mic nights for the music club, some creepy guy ended up hitting on him. Baekhyun had just ditched him to be with another member of the club, leaving the then freshman all by himself. He was flattered, at first, but when the guy became persistent and couldn't take no for an answer, he booked it out of there and vowed to never go again. He didn’t want the same thing to happen twice.

The other downfall to having to go was that it was starting to get chilly outside. It was the middle of fall and the weather outside was slowly decreasing in degrees as the days went on. Just earlier that week, Jongin was bundle in a long-sleeve and a jacket just to stay warm as he was on campus going to his classes. If Jongin didn’t have to get out of his bed or room for the rest of the day without purpose, he wouldn’t, especially for something he didn’t even want to go to.

Baekhyun was more than capable of going to open-mic night by himself. It’s not like he hasn’t already done it before. That's where he first spotted his current object of affection, the senior coordinator Kim Minseok, who was said to have a wild side to him despite his youthful looking face. Baekhyun definitely dug the two-personality thing Minseok had going on.

Jongin shuddered at the mere thought. He couldn’t see Minseok as anything other than his sweet chemistry tutor who gave him jolly ranchers and would dote on him during his freshman year. What Jongin thought was a miniscule crush turned out to be brotherly affection for the elder boy. He couldn’t even imagine sweet Minseok being pursued by his headstrong best friend.

Why did Baekhyun have to ruin all the good things in his life?

Once he was settled back in his bed, he burrowed deeper into his cozy blankets, a blissful expression adorning his face. Sleep was a time for peace and tranquility and as a university student, there was nothing better than a good sleep.

Just as he was close to drifting back to sleep his bedroom door slammed open, making him sigh in despair. Byun Baekhyun was definitely a pain in the ass when he wanted to be. He should’ve known that when the junior wanted something, he always found a way get it, one way or another.

If anything, Jongin currently blamed Oh Sehun, their other friend and his roommate, for letting Baekhyun into their shared apartment. Sehun always had a soft spot for Baekhyun, something Jongin can’t even begin to understand.

“Get up, we are going to the café tonight whether you like it or not. I only called to ask you out of courtesy. Now get up, we should go eat first and then we can go back to my apartment so that I can look good tonight for Minseok. It’ll be great, I promise.” Baekhyun dragged the covers off of Jongin and tugged on the worn out boy’s arm to haul him up.

Jongin begrudgingly lets himself be pulled up from his current laying position. Not opening his eyes once, he feels around for the edge of his comforter before sheltering himself with the thick burgundy blanket once more.

From under the covers he grumbled, “Why are we even going tonight? I mean you see Minseok all the time in your music club meetings or whatever. What’s the difference now?”

Baekhyun scoffed and tugged the blankets off of Jongin again. “Since I joined the club last year, I’ve had about four direct interactions with him. He only shows up for the important meetings. He also hasn’t heard me sing either since he was absent the day of tryouts so he’ll definitely be impressed by me. I heard he likes guys with nice voices.” Jongin stops himself from gagging as Baekhyun waggled his eyebrows.

“Can’t you just do it for a bro, Jongin?”

“No.”

Baekhyun kneeled on the bed and grabbed Jongin’s shoulders. “Alright how about I put it to you this way, Minseok could be my potential boyfriend and if that happens I’ll be too busy spending time with him to bug you every day. Plus what if you find your soulmate there?”

Jongin pushed his older friend off the bed. “You always pull that ‘finding your soulmate’ shit on me when you want me to go somewhere with you. You know, I don’t like it when joke around with things like that. I’m seriously looking for my potential boyfriend, don’t tease me.”

It was Baekhyun’s turn to roll his eyes. It was true that Jongin had been looking for someone to date as he liked the idea of being in a relationship with another.

But nonetheless, Jongin pondered at his friend's words. Baekhyun had a point, a very good, very important point. If Baekhyun somehow managed to impress Minseok, he wouldn’t have to deal with Baekhyun bugging him all the time. It’s not so much that he minded the junior because they were best friends and what not but Baekhyun did this thing where he came around at the most inopportune times and dragged Jongin around town for nonsensical things when the taller of the two had an essay or project needing to be completed by the next day.

Jongin sighed for the umpteenth time and proceeded to get up from the bed to walk over to his closet. He grabbed his favorite blue and white striped sweater and pair light jeans and walked over to the bathroom to change and do his usual morning bathroom routine, not even glancing back at Baekhyun as he shut the door behind him.

Baekhyun smiled in victory.

“Only because you are my best friend and because you are going to help me film my vlog tomorrow that I am willing to do this for you. I would have been more willing to join on this venture if you started out with you not disturbing me anymore if you had Minseok. It’s a very convincing argument,” a muffled voice says from inside Jongin’s bathroom.

Baekhyun opened his mouth to protest but decided against it when Jongin shushed him on his way out of the bathroom. “Don’t complain. You woke me up from my wonderful sleep so that I could go to some stupid singing café event with you. The same café where you know that creep hit on me and scarred me for life. The least you can do is humor me by helping my finish up the last segment of my video.”

Baekhyun crossed his arms and scowled, “Fine, I’ll help you too but just know that I won’t do it with a smile on my face.”

“You could wear a mask for all I care. I just really need to finish the last part so that I can post on time. Sehun bailed on me last minute so I need a replacement.”

Once Jongin had his clothes on and his teeth brushed, he combs his fingers through his hair to even out his messy bed head. He motioned Baekhyun to head out of his room so that they could grab some brunch (or was it lunch time already?), but not before he grabs his keys and his wallet from his tall dresser. Perhaps it was better that Baekhyun brought him out of the house because if not, he probably would’ve stayed locked in his room all weekend, hiding from the real world.

On their way out, Jongin stopped in front of Sehun, who was watching some movie on TV in the living room, and folded his arms cross his chest.

“You had to let Baekhyun in, didn’t you?”

Sehun, who seemed confused about the situation, spoke up, “Uh duh. He said that you were supposed to hang out today but that you never showed so I let him in so that you would wake up.”

Jongin’s eyebrows snapped together as he let out a hiss. “And you believed this little fool?” Baekhyun, who had been watching the scene from the front door, just smiled innocently while waving as both of his younger friends looked over to him.

“Yeah…that was dumb, huh?” Sehun scratched his head, “Oh well, Jongin it’s about time you got up anyways it’s already eleven in the morning.”

“Wow, rude. Anyways, I’m going out tonight with Baekhyun to some open-mic night did you want to come? It’s at the café next to the university.”

“Nah, I’ll pass. I have an essay due on Monday so I’ll probably work on that. Plus, I’ve been meaning to finally finish watching my Netflix series later so I’ll probably do that too,” Sehun bit his lip for a second and checked his phone, “Actually, I’ll probably hang out with my boyfriend tonight if you know what I mean.”

“Ew, I wish I didn’t know,” Jongin scrunched his nose in disgust, “Alright, with you having said that we are off. I’ll talk to you later. Or not.” Baekhyun waved once more before Jongin shut the door behind him.

***

Jongin yawned as he stared up the plain ceiling, boredom overtaking him.

Baekhyun was checking himself out in the mirror, finalizing his outfit for the night. After the two boys ate lunch, they had come back to Baekhyun’s apartment so that said boy could change into his clothes for the open-mic night. Since he was trying to impress Minseok with his looks and voice, he spent a tremendous amount of time swapping from one outfit to another.

The bored sophomore remained lying on his back, checking tweets and reading the comments from his latest video, in the meanwhile. He had almost dropped his phone onto his face a few times. He’s thankful for his quick reflexes otherwise his nose would have taken a brunt of the pain.

“Alright Jongin, I think this is the final outfit. What do you think?”

Without even bothering to look over, Jongin uninterestedly replied, “Looks great. Can we leave now? I thought you said this thing started at four. It’s already three-twenty and I’m bored.”

“If you would just look and give your real opinion, you would hurry this process up and then we could go.”

Jongin rolled onto his stomach and checked Baekhyun out from head to toe. His best friend had always had a good sense of style so practically anything he put on looked good. His light blue jean jacket with a designed tee under and the black jeans seemed like his normal wear. There was no point in even looking because Jongin was sure it looked fine.

“See, I looked and like I said earlier you look fine.”

Baekhyun looked back into the mirror with uncertainty spread across his face once more before turning around and shaking his head. “You’re right, this looks fine. What were you doing while I was changing? You seemed to giggle every once in a while and it was bizarre.” Baekhyun began hanging up the clothes sprawled across the floor and bed onto the hangers from his closet.

“If you must know, I was just checking through my Twitter feed and reading the comments from my last vlog.”

“Oh, I don’t think I watched last week’s. What was it about?”

Jongin sat up from his position on the bed and began slipping on his shoes. “Oh, you don’t have to watch it. Basically, it was a Q&A sort of thing. Usually, it’s the same old questions with a few new interesting ones. Actually surprisingly, people kept asking me about ‘hellodks’.”

Baekhyun jerked his eyebrows upward at his best friend, “Oh ooh. Are you still fawning over that boy? You know, I asked Chanyeol about him and he said that he’ll introduce you if you want.”

Jongin froze in place and looked at Baekhyun, “He would? Hmm…” Jongin thought about it for a minute before hastily shaking his head, “What am I saying? Tell Chanyeol thanks but no thanks. I think it would be weird especially if he saw my reaction video about him. He probably thinks I’m like some obsessive fan or something.”

“Well, aren’t you though?”

Jongin clicked his tongue in offense. “I’m not obsessive.”

“Yeah, sure. And I don’t like Minseok,” Baekhyun sarcastically replied.

Jongin stood up and brushed off the imaginary dust from his clothes, “It’s not obsessive. I just really like his voice and I kept re-watch his videos. And maybe I did try to look him up online but that’s normal for fans to do!”

“You also stalked his Instagram account and stared at his pictures. Don’t even bother lying to me Kim Jongin, I’ve seen it all.”

Jongin whined and clung onto his smaller friend’s arm, “You don’t understand Baek, he’s so small and cute and I just want to hug him and let him sing me to sleep. It should be illegal how cute he is, seriously. And it’s not obsessive behavior, I’m just being a normal fan.”

“Oh no, you definitely aren’t obsessed, what was I thinking? Maybe it’s for the better that you reject Chanyeol’s offer to introduce the two of you. Well it’s better for that singing guy’s sake, anyways.”

“Wow, thanks.”

Baekhyun shrugged his shoulders and headed outside of his apartment to his car. “Just being honest.”

Jongin pouted and slowly dragged his feet as he walked behind the junior. Okay, so he had to admit maybe he sounded a bit obsessive but really it wasn’t like that. He really liked the YouTube singer’s voice and his cute face was a bonus, but he had respect for the artist. He had respect for anyone who shared their craft to the world or the internet whether it is singing, dancing, make-up tutorials, whatever really. That’s why he really enjoyed being a reactioner.

The drive to the cafe took about ten minutes, all of which Baekhyun practiced his singing to Troye Sivan’s “Youth”. Jongin, too, enjoyed his best friend’s distinct voice and didn’t mind him singing. Baekhyun had been his favorite singer, up until ‘hellodks’ at least, and Troye Sivan had become one of his favorite artists so having them combined was great for his ears. It put him in a better mood.

When they walked into the cafe, there were numerous people standing and sitting at the tables spread around the café, laughing and enjoying the singing of the current performer on stage. Jongin was quite surprised at how many people actually turned up to this little rendezvous. He honestly thought it was just going to be the music club plus a few of their friends but he was awed by the amount of people who actually showed up to listen to the singers perform. Since it was an open-mic, anyone from the club or the audience could go up there and sing.

Baekhyun broke him out of his reverie with a tap on the shoulder. “Chanyeol texted me saying that we could sit with him and his friend since all the tables are taken. Should we get drinks and then go sit down or did you just want to sit down?”

“Um…we can just head over to Chanyeol. I’ll probably get something to drink later or before we leave.”

Baekhyun nodded his head and searched for his tall, curly-haired friend in the sea of people sitting down. Jongin stood there awkwardly playing with the hem of his shirt, waiting for Baekhyun to find Chanyeol. A couple of girls standing in line to buy drinks were sending him flirty winks and Jongin was beginning to feel embarrassed, not only for them but also for himself. He really hoped Chanyeol would surface soon.

As if someone was listening to his prayers, Jongin saw Baekhyun smile and wave towards someone on the other side of the café. Jongin exhaled a sigh of relief because from the corner of his eye he could see the two girls, who were previously eyeing him, whispering to each other, seemingly encouraging each other to approach him. He didn’t like the feeling of turning down people. It always made him feel guilty when they walked away with slumped shoulders and crestfallen faces. He knows it sucks because he’s been in that position before.
Baekhyun slithered through the crowd and finally made way to his music club companion, a nervous Jongin following shortly behind. His nerves usually got the best of him when first meeting someone new. After a while his nerves would calm and he could talk normally, but it was always the initial meeting that was nerve-wrecking.

Chanyeol smiled and waved at the two approaching him and motioned for them to sit down at his empty table. Baekhyun sat across from Chanyeol while Jongin sat next to Baekhyun. The chair across from him was empty.

“Hey, Chanyeol. Thanks for letting us sit here. It’s ridiculous at how packed it is. I can’t believe so many people came tonight. It must have been Minseok’s amazing marketing skills.”

The curly-haired man identified as Chanyeol rolled his eyes and let out laughter. “Somehow you always manage to bring Minseok up in the conversation. That should be considered a personal talent.”

Jongin chuckled as Baekhyun hit Chanyeol’s arm and stuck his tongue out in a playful manner.

“Oh by the way Chanyeol, this is Jongin. Jongin, this is Chanyeol. He is the guy that plays the guitar in the videos you like to watch.”

Chanyeol blinked in realization at the boy sitting in front of him and holds out his hand for a handshake, “Oh so you’re the infamous Jongin that likes my friend. Baek has told me all about you and your love for my roommate.”

Jongin was rendered speechless, mouth left agape, at Chanyeol’s words. He then glared at Baekhyun, who nervously chuckled under Jongin scrutinizing eyes. The sun-kissed boy really wanted to strangle his best friend. But he knows it wouldn't be appropriate to do so in public, with many witnesses around. Jongin decided to let Byun Baekhyun live another day despite him yet again blabbing out his secrets to other people.

“Ah, I see. Um, I don’t actually like him like him, I just like his voice.”

Chanyeol looked over to Baekhyun and then back to Jongin. “You know my roommate is actually singing tonight so it’s a good thing you came by. He actually just went up behind the stage to prepare already.”

Jongin’s eyes widen in horror. He quickly looked down at his wardrobe and groaned, letting his head fall on the table. He was not dressed to impress because he didn’t think ‘hellodks’ was going to be there tonight. Hell, he didn’t even know the guy came to his school. What were the chances of that actually happening?

His hair wasn’t even combed nicely.

“My heart isn’t ready for him yet. I wish I would’ve know so that I came dressed better or looked better,” he said, voice muffled by his head on the table.

The two boys just laugh at the sophomore’s misery. Baekhyun and Chanyeol began conversing with each other as Jongin continued to wallow by himself. What good was coming if he didn’t look good for ‘hellodks’? Now, he’ll never have a future with the cover artist.

At that thought Jongin snapped his head up in realization, not minding the two juniors who jumped from Jongin’s sudden outburst. He sounded just as bad as Baekhyun did when he talked about Minseok. He’s literally hit an all-time low. He was whipped by this guy he didn’t even know. Maybe he was obsessed with the poor cover artist?
Jongin jut out his lip in sadness.

“Alright ladies and gentlemen, up next we have freshman audience member Do Kyungsoo singing Justin Nozuka’s ‘After Tonight’” A gruff voice over the microphone said.

Everyone clapped as a small figure made his way from backstage onto a stool in the middle of the stage. He took an obvious deep breath in and out to calm his nerves and gave the signal to start the background music. The sound of a strumming guitar begins to fill the café.

Jongin turned his focus to the stage and noticed a familiar figure sitting on the stage, wearing simple jeans and a black-long sleeve. But that wasn’t what attracted Jongin the most, nope. Jongin’s weak heart couldn’t resist the sight of the younger male wearing round spectacles that perfectly fit his face. If he looked cute before, he definitely looked adorable tonight. And his doe-eyes were definitely a bonus.

“How did he know that this was my favorite song?” Jongin said lovingly to no one in particular as he hears the familiar guitar chords. He rested his chin onto the palm of his hand and stared at the boy on the stage with little pink hearts in his eyes.

Baekhyun looked at his friend with mock disgust. “I can’t believe he always gets on my case about being too in love with Minseok and stuff, but he’s totally worse than I am.”

“Is your friend alright?” Chanyeol stared at Jongin with curiosity. Even when Chanyeol waved his hand in front of Jongin’s face, the awestruck boy didn’t move an inch, keeping his eyes solely focused on the stage at the front.

There’s something in your eyes,
Is everything alright,
You look up to the sky, you long for something more

In Jongin’s head, this Kyungsoo guy’s voice fit his favorite song so perfectly. Both the original singer and Kyungsoo had soft yet soothing voices when singing acoustic and Jongin never knew this was the reality he wanted. He felt an even deeper connection to his favorite cover artist’s voice. He was entranced, to say the least. It was like watching the “Boyfriend” video all over again.

Give me your right hand
I think I understand, follow me
And you will never have to wish again

Kyungsoo kept singing the song just as he practiced. He was extremely nervous but he was excited to perform for an audience for the first time in his singing career. He had been debating whether or not to audition for the music club, or if they would even accept him since he first saw the flyer. Everyone in the club was extremely talented and he didn’t want to tarnish that reputation. The audience’s response would determine if he would audition in the winter quarter or not.

His brother had been a member before and had told his younger brother of all the wonderful things and all the wonderful people he met while being in the club. Just hearing his brother’s fond memories left Kyungsoo wanting to join it himself.

I know that after tonight,
You don’t have to look up at the stars, no, no, no, no
I know by the end of the night,
You don’t have to look up at the stars

The chorus of this song was his favorite part of the song because he felt like he sang best during that time. It was a time when Kyungsoo was able to show off his vocal talent and the raw emotion behind it. Sometimes he closed his eyes and let himself get lost in the music. Not trying to sound conceited or trying to toot his own horn, but he had to admit that he was a pretty good vocalist by regular standards.

When he looked into the audience he could vaguely see Chanyeol happily swaying to the music. Kyungsoo tried not to laugh at his roommate’s lack of rhythm. He then noticed two other figures sitting at the table also swaying with the song but he didn’t give much attention to it and looked around the rest of the café. He could always meet Chanyeol’s friends after his performance.

He was thankful to Chanyeol for encouraging him to perform tonight and for being a good friend by supporting him. It was quite funny how they met at the start of the year. After the overflow of freshman in the dorms left Kyungsoo practically homeless, Chanyeol came bumping into him at the right time. The junior happily told Kyungsoo that he was looking for a roommate to share his two bedroom apartment with after the freshman shared his predicament. Kyungsoo, although slightly skeptical, agreed and the rest was history.

It had been three months and despite their age difference, they became fast friends. Since Kyungsoo didn’t get to live in the dorms, it was harder for him to make friends in his classes since most people came to the lecture a minute before it started and left back to their apartments or dorm rooms the minute it was over. Chanyeol would always introduce his friends to the freshman so Kyungsoo wasn’t exactly friendless.

Way above the clouds
And high above the stars
Through the unknown black holes
No one knows where we are

Jongin nearly melted as the cute boy on stage sang through the rest of the song. If ‘hellodks’, or rather Kyungsoo as he now knew, sang this and uploaded it on his channel, Jongin would have definitely reacted to this video with nothing but positive reviews.

The last few notes of the song had Jongin closing his eyes to catch the feeling of the music. He knew there was a reason he liked acoustics songs and cover artists. They always seemed to put their own spin on the original song to make it their own. Kyungsoo had done it when he sang Justin Bieber’s song and Jongin was just blown away by the arrangement. Not only Kyungsoo but also other cover artists did this too.

People were amazing. Kyungsoo was amazing.

When the song was over the doe-eyed boy fixed the rim of his glasses and smiled to the crowd as he bowed. Everyone’s applauses had put a smile not only on Kyungsoo’s face but also Jongin’s. He was glad that other people were enjoying Kyungsoo’s artistry.

Rather than going back stage, Kyungsoo made his way over to Chanyeol’s table, greeting people who complimented his singing on his way back. Jongin had already begun tweeting to his followers on his phone about the wonderful performance that just took place.

“Oh my god, you’re Byun Baekhyun.”

Jongin looked up from his face at the unfamiliar deep voice. He nearly dropped his phone onto the ground as he saw the owner of the voice sitting in the seat across from him. When did Kyungsoo get here? Jongin finished up his tweet before pocketing his phone to pay attention to the scene in front of him.

Baekhyun, who was shocked at the recognition, stared at the freshman. “Do I know you?”

The other shook his head and held out his hands as if asking for a handshake. “Oh sorry,” he blushed, “I’m not in music club or anything but I’m thinking of auditioning. My name is Do Kyungsoo and I just have to say I’m a big fan. I loved your rendition of ‘Take Me to Church’ at last year’s recital. I went for my brother since he was a senior but I liked your performance the best. My brother couldn’t hold a candle to your singing, he even said so himself.”

“Oh well thank you. I’m glad you liked it. Jongin actually picked the song for me. He-Wait, a second...” Baekhyun looked at Jongin with a smug smile on his face. He knew Jongin was internally dying with Kyungsoo being in front of him and all. The boy had been wanting to meet ‘hellodks’ since he saw his first video. The poor freshman had no idea that he was practically being gawked at by the junior sitting directly across from him.

Baekhyun was very much enjoying this unexpected twist of fate. Jongin’s crush had an admiration for Jongin’s best friend whilst not knowing Jongin existed. Man, Baekhyun really loved this situation. He knew Sehun would also have a ball with this information too. Both would rub this in Jongin’s face for the days to come.

“Actually, Kyungsoo, you said that was your name right, this is Jongin right here.” Kyungsoo turned his focus from Baekhyun to Jongin and his corner of his lips quirked up into a heart shape smile.

If Kyungsoo was being honest, the guy sitting in front of him was really handsome. He had a nice bronze skin tone with a jawline to die for. And his lips, Kyungsoo doesn’t even want to get started on that. He had a thing for lips, especially nice plush lips like the guy’s in front of him. He couldn’t possibly stand a chance with the guy. He was too perfect.

“Um…nice to meet you, Jongin. I’m Do Kyungsoo. Are you in the music club too?” A blush crept onto Kyungsoo’s face.

Jongin just shook his head, shocked that his favorite cover artist talked to him. “Dance Clu-Club.”

Kyungsoo tilted his head, rather cutely Jongin might add. “Oh you’re in the dance club? That’s really cool. I wish I could dance well. Dancers are always so edgy and cool. I’m like the total opposite and I hardly have any rhythm.”

“You were amazing up there on the stage though,” Jongin blurted out, not caring how shameless he sounded, “That was actually my favorite song. Its old but it’s so good. I feel like not many people know about it so I was surprised to see you singing it up there. But your cover was awesome. I’ve seen some of your other covers, too, on YouTube; all of them are so good.”

Kyungsoo tried hard not to burst up in pride. So instead he covers his warm cheeks with his hands and stammered out a soft ‘thank you, I didn’t think anyone watched them all that much.’
Considering that he didn’t have very many followers, it was nice for someone to recognize him and praise his videos. It made Kyungsoo feel all warm inside, especially since said guy who complimented him was good-looking.

Jongin beamed proudly, “Well, I watched them and they were all good. Don’t doubt your talent.”

“That means a lot to me Jongin. Thank you, really. Did you have a channel on YouTube too?”

“Me? No. I don’t have a channel on YouTube. I don’t even have any real talents that I can show the world. Maybe I would do dancing or something else if I did though.” Jongin nervously chuckled. Kyungsoo couldn’t know the extent to which Jongin’s fanboying went. Hopefully, the freshman didn’t watch reaction videos and wouldn’t stumble across his channel.

“Or reacting to videos,” Baekhyun coughed under his breath.

If looks could kill Baekhyun would be ten feet under with the way Jongin was gazing hard at him. Chanyeol just continued laughing at the entertainment he was getting from the best friends, having heard Baekhyun’s underhanded comment, while Kyungsoo gave the trio a perplexed look at their antics.

“Um what’s so funny?” Kyungsoo shyly asked. Jongin tried so hard not to coo at the younger.

“It’s just Baekhyun being stupid, right Baek?” When Baekhyun didn’t say anything, Jongin elbowed his ribs.

“Ow. I mean yeah, I was just saying how I should sing Usher’s “Climax” for my song tonight. Maybe then Minseok will get the hint and finally come to me.” Baekhyun forced a smile.

“Oh Minseok didn’t come tonight. He said he had something else to do,” Kyungsoo said.

Baekhyun just blankly stared at the table at the revelation and stomped his feet. “Are you serious? He didn’t come? Damn it, I was supposed to impress him with my singing tonight.”

“Minseok is my tutor if you want me to put in a good word with him,” Kyungsoo quietly murmured.

“Minseok is your tutor? First he’s Jongin’s tutor and now he’s your tutor. I think I should request for Minseok to be my tutor. Things would be a lot easier.” Baekhyun sighed in disappointment.

“Well since Minseok isn’t here there is no point of me singing or anything. We can leave now Jongin.”

Jongin massaged his temples in slight frustration. He was literally dragged out for nothing. Well, at least he was able to meet Kyungsoo and have a brief conversation with the younger. But still, he could’ve been editing videos or sleeping or doing practically anything else than coming.

“Why did I let you drag me out of the house? I should’ve said no.”

“There, there, Jongin, it’s over now. Let’s blow this popsicle stand and go watch a movie. I’ll see you later Chanyeol. Bye Kyungsoo, it was nice to meet you. Your voice is lovely. I hope you try out for the music club at the next auditions. Maybe we can even collaborate on something in the future.”

Kyungsoo eagerly nodded his head.

Truthfully despite his complaining, the sophomore wanted to stay a bit longer to talk to Kyungsoo more but seeing as Baekhyun was his only ride, he had to go along with what his best friend wanted. Nonetheless, Jongin wasn’t sure if he should wave at the two roommates since the three of them had barely met but he ended up doing so anyways.

“It was nice to meet you guys. We should meet up again sometime,” Jongin awkwardly said.

“Definitely,” Kyungsoo grinned brightly.

Okay, now he was glad Baekhyun dragged him out. He was able to meet Kyungsoo and able to finally meet the person behind the voice. And he could undoubtedly say that he was not disappointed.

Part 2