Chapter Text
one
Jay is panting heavily, trying to catch his breath after their intense dance practice. The members finally have a 15-minute break after dancing for an hour straight.
Most of the members just plopped down where they were standing as soon as the dance instructor called for break, but not Jay.
Jay is smart and knew that if he did just that, he wouldn’t be able to get up. And what he needs more at this point than lying down is water to ease his parched throat.
Jay gathers the little energy he has left and uses it to drag his feet to the water station and grabs a bottle before leaning against the wall and sliding down till he is sitting on his butt. With shaky hands, he opens the bottle and finally takes a sip, the cool water doing wonders for him.
After he gulps down more than half of the bottle, he finally takes a break and bows his head down, hands hanging over his bent knees, trying to calm his breathing down. He honestly doesn’t know how the group will be able to perform the song and sing at the same time because the choreography this time is difficult.
Jay moves his head to lean it against the wall and closes his eyes, finally at peace. He hopes to take a power nap before their instructor calls them to run through the choreography, again.
Suddenly he feels the air shift beside him before another warm body settles by him.
Jay furrows his eyebrows in confusion. He doesn’t understand why someone is sitting beside him at this very moment.
Having been with each other 24 hours every day for the past few years, the boys have learned each other’s habits, likes and dislikes. So everyone knows that after a long dance practice, Jay likes to sit by himself during the breaks. He needs space. And he gets it easily from his bandmates who are very understanding.
So at this very moment, he wonders what someone is doing so close to him. Jay is also hot and sweaty from the practice so he also doesn’t appreciate the extra heat that is emitting from the person.
But before he can ask who it is, the person talks.
“Jay hyung,” the person says. It’s Ni-ki. Jay deciphers it easily with the way the last syllable of hyung is prolonged and the light Japanese accent. What is he doing here?
“Hyung,” Ni-ki nudges his shoulder, trying to get the older to pay attention to him, but Jay continues to ignore him and keeps his eyes closed, hoping that the maknae will remember that Jay likes to be alone during these small breaks.
But that is not the case because Ni-ki moves even closer to Jay, completely plastering the side of his body against his.
Thigh to thigh. Shoulder to shoulder.
Jay holds in a shiver of revulsion from the heat and sweaty limbs on him now. Before he can muster up the energy to scoot away and get some space, Ni-ki goes a step further and curls his arm around Jay’s, entwining them together and holds him in place.
This causes the older to open his eyes and eye the younger one. He raises an eyebrow in question, too exhausted to use his vocal cords to figure out what the maknae is up to.
“I just want to hang out with hyung,” Ni-ki says simply with a wide smile and sparkling eyes that lack the usual mirth in them when he is joking around with the older.
Jay doesn’t have the energy to question the younger further and lets him be. Plus, Jay can rarely say no to the younger, always spoiling him.
Jay just closes his eyes again and leans against the wall, but this time with another body accompanying him.
two
Now Jay thought that Ni-ki clinging to him unexpectedly at dance practice earlier in the week was a one-time thing, but he was so wrong. Because it keeps on happening.
Again and again.
Anytime the boys are all together, Ni-ki decides to sit beside him and hold onto his arm. And if someone happens to sit beside Jay before him, he will wiggle his way through with his bony butt, not so subtly pushing the other person away.
And during interviews or shows when the group is asked to pick a specific member, the only name that comes out of Ni-ki’s mouth is Jay. Jay hyung this and Jay hyung that.
Jay is Ni-ki’s first choice, always.
“The member I want to go to school with is Jay hyung because it would be fun” (Dazed Magazine Interview)
“I want to travel with Jay hyung” (Weekly Idol Episode 532)
“Jay hyung is the nicest member, just because …” (EN-O’Clock Episode 24)
“I would bring Jay to a deserted island because he would make me feel safe” (Mnet Enhypen Carnival Comeback Show)
“Jay hyung has unexpected charm” (Mnet Enhypen Debut Show)
Jay doesn’t know what to make of it all.
Jay can say that he knows Ni-ki quite well having been together since I-Land. They got very close when they both got sent to the Ground and also because Jay was the only contestant that could speak both Korean and Japanese, helping Ni-ki out.
And when they first debuted, Ni-ki felt most comfortable with Jay and Sunoo. But as they all worked together, he opened up easily to the other hyungs and got close with them quickly.
Jay also knows that Ni-ki has fleeting obsessions with his hyungs. It was first Sunoo, who he couldn’t sleep without. Then it was Jay. And now it is Jake and Heeseung.
So Jay finds it rather weird that Ni-ki is suddenly choosing him and hanging around him. It’s not like he minds it. In fact, he loves it. He thinks of the younger as his brother.
But he wonders if maybe the maknae is playing an elaborate prank on him. Jay is often the target of both teasing and pranks amongst the group. Yet Jay doesn’t think it is that.
Maybe he is feeling homesick?
Usually when Ni-ki begins to miss home, Jay is the first person that Ni-ki begins to seek out. Jay, who can speak his native tongue, helps to ease the heartache a bit.
Jay decides to ask him directly, worried that the maknae is in distress and Jay doesn’t know about it and isn’t helping him. Jay always needs to make sure that all the members are doing well.
“Riki-san?” Jay says in Japanese to Ni-ki who is sitting beside him on the couch, sides plastered together once again. “Are you homesick?”
Ni-ki tilts his head in confusion, “Why would you think that?”
“Well because you’ve been hanging around me more, so I thought you were maybe missing home.”
“Oh,” Ni-ki’s eyes brighten with understanding. “No, I’m not homesick.”
“So then why?” Ni-ki directs a small sweet smile to Jay, “It’s just because I like hyung.”
“Oh,” a small surprised noised escapes Jay’s mouth, eyes widening. He looks away from Ni-ki’s direct eye contact and rubs the back of his neck sheepishly.
“O-okay.” Jay doesn’t know what more he can say to that confession out of the blue. Enhypen is not a group that says stuff like that randomly.
Ni-ki grins at his hyung’s reaction and the light pink blush that paints his freckled cheeks. He sits back beside Jay and wiggles against his shoulder, giddy to spend time with his hyung.
three
Jay drops his bag noisily at the entrance of the dorm, ready to get into bed. He had a really long day, staying two hours extra after the other members to complete his guitar lessons.
He can hear loud chatters and laughter coming from the living room. He shakes his head fondly when he hears a loud shriek, knowing that it’s most likely Sunoo. Because who else can scream like a banshee.
Jay quickly takes a shower to wash off the grime and sweat of the day and changes into his pyjama’s before going to the kitchen to scavenge some food for himself. He is too tired to make food or even wait for food to arrive if he orders it.
He thinks of making some simple instant ramen when he sees a pizza box on the counter. He opens it and sees a slice of Hawaiian pizza, his favourite.
Jay cranes his neck and shouts, “Is anyone going to eat this last slice of pizza or can I?” With no reply, he closes the box and walks to get ramen for himself, not wanting to eat the slice that belongs to someone else and get an angry member on his hands.
Jungwon walks into the kitchen, “Oh hyung, that’s your slice.”
“You ordered it for me?” Jay asks, turning around. “That’s sweet of you Jungwon-ah, thank you,” sending a tired smile at the young leader, who is grabbing an ice-cream cone for himself.
“Jake and I were ordering pizza and buffalo wings for ourselves when Ni-ki told us to get you a slice,” Jungwon explains as he leaves the kitchen, denying his involvement.
Jay’s eyebrows go up in surprise. That’s a first. He doesn’t think much of it and reminds himself to thank the maknae later. He transfers the cold slice to a plate and warms it up.
Jay sits at their dining table and eats the pizza as he scrolls through his phone, replying to messages. He cleans the plate after and is walking back to his room when Ni-ki sees him from the living room and quickly gets up.
“Hyung!” Ni-ki shouts, successfully stopping Jay who has his hand hovering over the doorknob to his bedroom.
Jay turns around to face the younger, who almost bumps into him from running so fast to catch up with the older.
“Thanks for the pizza Ni-ki,” Jay says with a smile before asking, “What’s up?” He looks up to meet the younger’s eyes. The older still can’t believe how tall Ni-ki has gotten.
“Come play lego with me,” Ni-ki says.
Jay quirks an eyebrow at the statement that was said with a rather demanding tone.
“Not tonight,” Jay says tiredly, “I just want to lie down.
“But hyung,” Ni-ki whines. Jay doesn’t understand why the younger is even asking him. He isn’t the one that is currently obsessed with the activity. He should be asking Jake or Jungwon. Even Sunghoon would be a better choice than him.
“You can build with the other hyungs. There were building it when I walked pass the living room.”
“Yeah, we are. But I want you to be there.”
“Ni-ki, hyung is tired,” Jay says with an annoyed tone, not understanding why Ni-ki is not taking no for an answer. All he wants is to be tucked in his warm comforter, which is currently not the case because Ni-ki won’t leave him alone, again.
Ni-ki physically deflates in front of the older, upset that his hyung doesn’t want to play with him.
Now everyone knows that the one thing that Jay cannot stand is seeing any of the members upset, especially the younger ones. Jay sighs at Ni-ki’s saddened facial expression.
“You really want to play with hyung?” Jay asks, peering up at him. Ni-ki nods fast, eyes widening with plea.
Jay rubs his hand against his face and slumps his shoulders in defeat. “Fine, but just for a little bit.”
A wide smile spreads across Ni-ki’s lower face, who grabs Jay’s arm and drags him to the living room. Jay doesn’t know how Ni-ki convinced him to stay up late when he is so exhausted, and especially stay up late to build legos out of all things, which he is not interested in.
But Jay doesn’t mind it at the end because he gets to see the wide, innocent smile and sparkle of joy on Ni-ki’s face, making him look more like his age, rather than a K-pop star that had to grow up too fast.
Ni-ki simply looks like a young kid playing with his older brothers.
four
Jay is watching a random anime show on the television with Ni-ki when he gets up in the middle to take a shower. But as soon as he does, Ni-ki grabs onto his wrist with both hands and peers up at him doe-eyed.
“Hyungie, where are you going?”
“Just going shower.” Ni-ki nods in understand and reluctantly releases Jay’s wrist from his grip, allowing him to walk away. Jay goes to his room first to grab his towel and clothes.
When he gets to the bathroom in the hallway, he sees Ni-ki standing in front of the door, hands filled with his own towel and clothes.
He walks up to the younger and raises an eyebrow, “Ni-ki, I just said I’m going shower. What are you doing?”
“Oh, I want to shower too.” Jay sighs loudly over the younger’s antics. “Okay,” easily giving in to the younger’s wants, “I’ll go to the other bathroom.” Jay usually prefers the bathroom in the hallway rather than the one in the master bedroom, but he’ll let it slide, not in the mood to fight over a bathroom.
As he is turning around, Ni-ki grabs his wrist again. “Let’s shower together.”
Jay stills when he hears that and slowly faces the younger again, “What did you say?”
“I want to shower with hyung,” Ni-ki says slowly. Jay doesn’t know if the younger is joking with him or pulling another prank. But he doesn’t see any mirth in his eyes, so it seems like Ni-ki is genuinely asking.
Showering together is normalised in South Korea but Enhypen just doesn’t do that, liking to have their personal boundaries. So he doesn’t understand what is going on in Ni-ki’s head for him to ask him that.
“You want to shower, together,” Jay repeats back slowly, making sure that he is hearing the younger currently. Ni-ki nods and rolls his eyes in annoyance having had to repeat the same sentence two to three times already.
Jay shakes his head, trying to make sure that he isn’t hallucinating. But Ni-ki is still standing in front of him with his towel and clothes, asking to shower together.
“You, Ni-ki, want to shower with me? Together?” Jay clarifies.
“Yes hyung,” Ni-ki says exasperated, not understanding why Jay is overreacting over a simple request.
“But, Ni-ki we don’t do that.” Plus, they are not in a rush to go to a schedule and the other bathroom is free, so it’s just weird.
“I know, but I want to shower with you,” Ni-ki whines. This is just getting weirder.
Maybe at the beginning of their debut, Ni-ki would have asked to shower together because he was clingy. But now that he has matured, pretty quickly, this is just something that he wouldn’t ask normally.
Jay raises his hand and places the back of it against Ni-ki’s forehead, feeling for a temperature, “Are you sick?”
Ni-ki bats the hand away in annoyance. “No hyung. Just let me shower with you.”
Jay sighs. Why is he always the one that ends up dealing with all the weird behaviours of the members?
“Look, I don’t know what you’re playing with. But hyung wants to shower alone.”
Hearing those words, Ni-ki protrudes his lower lip and pouts, eyes filling with sadness. Jay sighs in grievance and cups his forehead, looking away from Ni-ki’s hurt expression which will definitely make him say yes.
“I-if you want, you can wait for me outside,” Jay tries to negotiate with the younger’s request.
Ni-ki visibly brightens up like a puppy and nods his head quickly in agreeance before Jay says no. The older sends him a weird look before going into the bathroom and closing the door behind him, completely forgetting that Ni-ki had also said that he had wanted to shower.
Jay bets that Ni-ki won’t even be outside the door after he is done showering, impatient and easily distractible.
But he’s wrong.
Because when Jay is finished with the bathroom and steps out, Ni-ki is sitting against the wall opposite to the door, looking like a sad puppy with invisible ears lying flat against his head.
As Ni-ki was waiting, other members saw him when they walked down the hall.
“Ni-ki, do you want to use the bathroom? The other one is free,” Jungwon said. “Oh, it’s okay. I’m waiting for hyung.”
Jungwon sent a suspicious look to him, “You’re waiting for Jay hyung outside the bathroom.” Ni-ki nodded back at him innocently.
“Why don’t you wait in the living room or something?”
“I’m okay here Jungwon hyung.”
Jungwon didn’t know what to make of the situation and thought it was a Japanese thing. Other members also sent him weird looks but didn't ask because Jungwon had already explained the situation to them.
When Ni-ki heard the door open, he quickly gets up and lightens up in joy when he sees Jay. Jay, who is rubbing his hair with a hand towel, stills mid-action with shock.
“You stayed? The entire time?”
“Yeah hyung. Why would you think I would leave?” Ni-ki asks, eyebrows furrowed in confusion and looking a little hurt. Jay just sighs tiredly and begins to walk to his room.
He notices that Ni-ki isn’t following him and looks back, “Aren’t you going to come?” Hearing that, a wide smile of relief spreads across Ni-ki’s face.
Jay doesn’t know what is happening with Ni-ki but if a small action of allowing him to stay by his side makes the maknae happy, he’ll let him stay by his side forever.
five
“Did you see Jay-ah earlier?”
“It was so funny.”
The members have just finished meeting a sunbae in their company building to film promotional content for their upcoming comeback and are now walking back to their practice room. They enter the backroom to wait around for their manager, who has to do something before they leave for their next schedule.
Jay, who is leading the group, ignores the comments from the members behind him and sits down on the sofa, scrolling on his phone. The other members sit around him, and also grab chairs and pull it to the sofa.
“Jay-ah,” Jake says in a singsong teasing tone, excited to make fun of Jay, his favourite hobby.
“What?” Jay snaps back, already expecting the teasing remarks from the members. His snap elicits loud laughter from Jake and Sunghoon, who begin to imitate Jay.
“O-oh an-nyeongho-simnikka,” Jake stutters out.
“It’s a pleasure meeting you,” Sunghoon continues in a high-pitched voice, with awkward chuckles in between each syllable, trying to imitate Jay’s mannerisms when he is nervous.
Sunoo claps his hand together and laughs loudly at their imitation while Jungwon is chuckling, shaking his head over his cute hyung. Heeseung is looking at all of them laughing at the teasing that Jay is receiving. He really can’t catch a break.
Jungwon adds fuel to the fire by telling the members how excited Jay was to meet the sunbae.
“Jay hyung was telling me how excited he was to meet him and tell him what a big fan he is. But then he went in front of him and became all quiet and shy,” Jungwon laughs gleefully, “Cute,” he adds on quietly.
All Jay does is shake his head, amused over their bad imitations. Although Jay is confident, he is shy when meeting sunbaes from the industry and it was no different this time.
As they continue to laugh at Jay, a loud deep voice is heard through the noise, “Stop.”
It’s Ni-ki, who happens to be sitting beside Jay and scoots closer to place his arm around the older’s shoulder and repeats himself, “Stop.”
Everyone stops their chattering and teasing to turn to Ni-ki with questioning looks.
“Stop making fun of Jay hyung,” Ni-ki says in a grumbled tone, while he tucks Jay closer under his shoulder, making Jay seem even smaller beside the tall maknae.
Jay sends a bewildered expression, which is mirrored by the other members. Ni-ki is usually instigating the teasing with Jake and Sunghoon, not stopping it, so this is a first.
“Wh-what?” Sunghoon manages to ask with an awkward chuckle.
“I don’t know why guys are making fun of Jay hyung,” Ni-ki rolls his eyes with annoyance, “You lot weren’t any better.”
“What do you mean by that?” Jake sputters out, flabbergasted over the fierce, protective expression on the maknae’s face. Everyone knows that Ni-ki has a soft spot for his favourite hyung, but nothing like this.
“You know, at least Jay managed to speak to the sunbae,” Ni-ki continues to defend Jay, “You were all just standing behind him, not saying a word and bowing constantly.”
“Hey that’s not fair. You also didn’t say anything,” Sunoo protests.
“But still. Don’t make fun of hyung,” Ni-ki says in a pout. The members send each other confused and amused looks over Ni-ki’s odd protectiveness over Jay.
Heeseung, trying to be mediator and dissipate the awkwardness in the atmosphere, puts his hands up in defense. “Okay okay maknae. We will leave your Jay hyung alone.”
“Yeah, sorry Jay-ah,” Jake says with a wide grin, not sounding serious at all. Jay just rolls his eyes while Ni-ki has a comical prideful smile on his face.
Throughout the entire conversation, Jay remained tucked under Ni-ki’s arm, eyebrows furrowed in confusion when hearing the maknae defend him. He even sent Jungwon a pointed look, who is sitting directly across from him.
Jay had talked to the leader before about Ni-ki acting weird lately and this was exactly it.
Jay and the others don't know what to make of it.