Chapter One: Begin

Taehyung's POV:

Just three more hours. Then I can go home and collapse. The words continued to repeat in Taehyung's head as he stared at the clock ticking away slowly above his math teacher's head.

He should have known that staying up half the night practicing for his upcoming saxophone solo was a stupid decision, but his nerves had gotten the best of him. He knew that each performance was a chance to show his parents how, although music may not be the safest career choice, it was one that he was passionate about.

It had taken three years of dedication to the instrument for his father to begin seeing that Taehyung's dedication was paying off. He just couldn't see himself following what his family had set out for him, but if he couldn't find a way to support himself with music, it was simply going to stay a pipe dream.

"Kim Taehyung! Pay attention to us, not what's outside the window!"

He jerked his head up from where it had begun to sway down towards his desk. "I'm sorry, teacher. It won't happen again."

Focusing in on the math sets written out on the board, Taehyung managed to work through the rest of class without falling towards sleep again. The rest of the day passed in a foggy blur, with the thin teenager stumbling from class to class in his wrinkled grey uniform.

Leaving his final class, he could only think about gathering his younger brother, Jeongyu, and younger sister, Eunjun, from their classes so he could shepherd them home before taking a much needed nap. Slumping towards his locker, Taehyung didn't notice his best friend, Minjun, rocketing down the hall towards him until he was rapidly grabbed and spun in a circle.

"Tae! You have to come with me!" Minjun's face was sweaty and his breath was coming out in rasps as he doubled over to recover from his sprint down the hallway.

"Where are we going?" Tae asked in a grumble as he stuffed his unneeded textbooks into his locker, glancing back to make sure Minjun hadn't fallen over. His next door locker neighbor, the crabby girl who was always pissy when Tae's locker door was open just a little too wide, was glaring at Minjun as she packed to go home. The two boys waited for her to finish, watching her slam her locker aggressively as if to make a point before turning and stomping off into the crowd of students that were collectively trying to escape the high school.

"Well she's a peach, as always." Minjun slipped forward to lean against the newly slammed locker door. "There's an audition this Friday in the auditorium. How is it even possible that you didn't hear about it?"

Taehyung shrugged, "I've been busy. You know I have saxophone practice every day after school and homework hasn't exactly been easy to deal with either. How do you even have time to worry about stuff like this?"

Minjun laughed, his tone slightly mocking but mostly filled with amusement at Tae's naivety. "It's easy. This school has never, and will never, benefit me in any way. Who needs to know math when they can just be supremely rich from singing and dancing?"

"Oh, so it's an idol audition, then? Definitely count me out." Tae chuckled to himself as he slipped his arms into his backpack before taking off through the rapidly emptying hallway.

Minjun had been bugging Tae for months about his newly fabricated dream to become a K-Pop idol. It was becoming alarmingly obvious that his intentions were leaning more towards gaining the girls and money than a love for music and performance. But that was just Minjun, always discovering new ways in which he could impress girls, and he didn't exactly have a track record of doing so successfully.

Being slightly older than Taehyung, Minjun was considerably shorter and extremely thin. His latest hair cut, the standard bowl cut he always received from his no-nonsense mom, really highlighted his gaunt cheekbones and slightly sunken eyes. Tae couldn't say he wasn't attractive, but he wasn't exactly what anyone would have in mind when looking for the newest idol sensation.

"Are you serious? You've wanted to do music your whole life! How can you just pass up an opportunity like this?" Minjun whined unhappily, his already high voice squeaking into octaves Tae wished he would never have to suffer through again. "You can't tell me you aren't the least bit curious if they'll see some potential in you."

"Unless they're forming a group that desperately needs a saxophone player, I really don't care what any K-Pop production company has to say about me. Besides, why would you even be encouraging me to go when it just creates more competition for you?" Tae pushed forward through a crowd of loitering freshman, making his final break for the front doors of the school.

Minjun scrambled to keep up, bumping through people carelessly. "So you think you're competition, huh?"

'What? No. I just meant-" Tae stuttered out, his walk faltering and allowing Minjun to catch up long enough to wind their arms together so he wouldn't be left behind again.

"Fine, if you really aren't interested in trying out, at least come with me. I could use the moral support and you could use an hour away from that damn instrument."

Taehyung tried to think of an excuse as to why he couldn't go with him, but he knew bringing up his saxophone again would result in being shoved. That was when Tae spotted his younger brother waiting by the tree that served as their normal rendezvous point.

"Actually, I really can't go with you. I have to walk Jeongyu and Eunjun home that day." Tae said, pulling his arm out from Minjun's as they reached the tree as well. "Don't I, Jeongyu?"

The younger, dark haired boy looked up with a bored look in his eyes. "Yeah, sure. Whatever."

Turning towards Minjun with a shit-eating grin on his face, Taehyung threw his arm over his younger brother's shoulders. It didn't stay there for long, as Jeongyu slumped out of his reach almost immediately, but Tae's smile didn't falter. "Sorry, hyung. I simply can't allow two irresponsible, helpless children to travel home alone. They could get lost. Or stolen."

"I'm pretty sure you'd prefer the latter," Eunjun, his younger sister, squeaked out happily as she joined the three boys under the tree. "But I think you should go with Minjun-hyung. You work so hard on your practices, a few hours away won't kill you. Not to mention, Mom and Dad are going to have us busy with the fields anyway so you won't even be able to practice if you are home."

Minjun reached over and mussed his practically adopted little sister's hair, "Exactly! So it's settled. I'll meet you at your locker Friday afternoon and you can go with me like the supportive best friend that I know you are."

"But-" Tae started to argue, but quickly saw there was no point as he watched Minjun shoot finger guns at him before jogging off to bother his next victim. Sighing, he turned back to his siblings. "Let's go home before he decides I need to help him practice too."

"Taehyung is going to an audition on Friday!" Eunjun blurted out happily as she helped bring their mother's bibimbap to the small dining table nestled between the couch and front door.

Taehyung groaned internally as his mother and father both followed her to the table, carrying more bowls in their arms. His father settled fully into his chair between Taehyung and his mother before turning to his eldest son, "Oh? What's this audition for? I thought you said you had already been given a saxophone solo."

"I do have the solo. This isn't an audition for me, it's for Minjun. I was just going to go to show him support." Taehyung smiled kindly as his mother slipped into her seat last; Jeongyu had been impatiently seated at the table for twenty minutes, waiting for their dinner to be served.

"I think you should audition too! You've always wanted to be an idol!" Eunjun chittered happily around a mouthful of rice.

Taehyung was too embarrassed to look up from his bowl, but he heard his mother hush his sister before the table fell into silence.

His father was the first to speak again, "Did you want to audition?"

The question made Tae's head snap up. He knew how unreliable his father found the music industry and, while it was a nice thought, actually pursuing one's dreams is much riskier than it is rewarding. He watched his father's dark eyebrows, one's so similar to his own, rise up his forehead as he waited for a reply. It's stupid to dream. I've already pushed him with the saxophone, that should be enough for me to be happy.

"Nah, I don't want to audition. Idols are stupid anyway."

By the time Friday rolled around, Taehyung has all but forgotten his promise to Minjun. Well, that was a lie; but he wanted to have forgotten about it. It was pretty impossible to do so with the other boy texting him about it at every possible moment.

Minjun: so they said to have a song prepared bc they want to hear us sing

Minjun: need ideas. Help?

Taehyung: Idk, you only listen to rap. Pick something with that

Minjun: no way, dude. girls never like the rappers!

Taehyung had scoffed at the last message and had refused to reply. The sooner Minjun's audition was over, the better. He did in fact hope that the older boy would get picked; Minjun had always been supportive of Tae's dreams. Well, the ones that he actually had the guts to pursue anyway. But he refused to acknowledge the real reason behind his attitude.

Minjun, as the maknae of his family, was babied to the point of being spoiled. His parents allowed him to do basically whatever he wanted, whenever was convenient for him. It was almost like raising his three older siblings had wore them out to the point of not wanting to fight with their final child over anything. He had no idea how good he had it.

Taehyung was sure Minjun's mother had jumped at the opportunity to give Minjun a leg up on the competition, and his suspicions were confirmed when the shorter boy came walking out of the school bathroom wearing an entirely brand new outfit.

"What, your other clothes weren't good enough for the two minutes these people are going to see you?" Tae tried his best to keep jealousy from coloring his tone, but it was hard. The last time he had received new clothes was when his last growth spurt had made his school uniform unwearable; you know, two years ago. He was pretty sure that uniform now belonged to Eunjun.

Minjun had the grace to look embarrassed and didn't say anything in response. He knew how little money there was to go around in the Kim household. But it never became a point of contention in their friendship because he, despite having the opportunity to have become a pompous asshole, has been humbled by not fitting in with the popular kids.

Way to be a dick, Tae. Let's try to not shatter his confidence ten minutes before his audition. Tae shook his head to pull his dark brown bangs into his eyes before throwing his arm over the other boy's shoulders. "You look great, man. They're going to be so impressed with how hot you are, they won't even need to see you sing."

Minjun grinned at the compliment before reaching over to punch Tae in the stomach lightly. "That's fucking gay, dude. But you're totally right."

Luckily, he didn't see the dark look pass over Taehyung's face as they wound through the empty, sterile hallways of the high school on their way to the auditorium. Tae couldn't help himself as the words "That's fucking gay" repeated over and over in his mind.

The auditorium was packed with teenagers, eagerly awaiting their turn to be called forward by the short, pudgy man standing on the stage with a microphone. Some were in uniforms, Tae was surprised to even see some from neighboring high schools, and some had chosen to change into street clothes like Minjun had.

"If you are just arriving, I ask you to come to the front of the stage and turn in your parent permission form along with your audition form. Please also be prepared to provide an ID to the person taking down your information. Now I would like #37, Lee Jintao, to please follow me back stage." The man spoke loudly over the auditorium speakers.

There has to be over 200 people here, Tae thought to himself as he followed Minjun down the center aisle towards the line of kids waiting to reach the fold-out table at the front of the room. This is going to take so much longer than a single hour.

"If you don't want to stand in line with me, you can go grab us a few seats. I'll come find you once I'm checked in." Minjun spoke loudly into Tae's ear in order to be heard, waving his filled out sheets of paper in the air as he did it.

The older boy's lips brushed across Tae's earlobe as he spoke, sending a flash of something strange through his body and causing fear to pool in the bottom of his stomach. Tae jerked back violently, trying to ignore the questioning look on his best friend's face as he stepped towards the quickly filling rows of seats. "Sure thing, meet you over here when you're done."

Finding an empty row of seats towards the back of the room, Tae slung his backpack off his shoulder and fell into one of the hard, wooden seats. What the fuck was that? This cannot be happening again; not with Minjun. I can't deal with this right now; but I also can't get rid of him like I did with the last one. He's my best friend; how is this even-

"Excuse me."

Tae jerked at the voice, allowing himself to be pulled from his mental breakdown before it really went downhill. He was surprised to see a man only a few years older than him, standing over him with a clipboard in his hand and a bluetooth headphone (like what Tae assumed important businessmen in Seoul wore) in his ear.

He was struck by how attractive the man was. He had a strong jaw and high cheekbones; his hair was swept back from his forehead and had been streaked with honey highlights that somehow made his tan skin glow healthily. Even his clothes, which consisted of what Tae could only assume was the latest street fashion in Seoul, hung on his frame in a way that Tae's clothes never had.

Tae knew he was ogling the guy, but he just couldn't bring himself to care quite yet. No one he'd ever met looked as cool and attractive as this guy did. He knew why it had hit him so hard, but he wasn't prepared to admit it to himself so he shook his head and smiled up at the man as nonchalantly as he could. "Yeah?"

The man smiled back eagerly, as if something had been confirmed for him. Tae couldn't help but notice that he liked the guy even better when he smiled. "Hi, sorry, I was wondering if you were planning to audition."

"Oh," Tae's face fell. Now he understood, he was taking up space and the guy was clearly just here to tell him he wasn't welcome if he wasn't here to try out. "No, I'm not. A friend just asked me to come with him but I didn't realize there would be so many people here; I'll go so you can have the seat."

He stood up, shouldering his backpack and bowed to the man slightly before beginning to walk out of the auditorium. It was unexpected, and jarring, when the man sprung forward and grabbed ahold of Tae's arm. "No! I wasn't telling you to get out! I was asking because, if you aren't here to audition, you really should reconsider. You're exactly what we're looking for."

Forgetting his manners, Taehyung laughed humorlessly before shrugging out of the way-too-attractive man's grasp. He had heard about this happening to people, but he had never experienced it in Daegu. "I appreciate it, but I'm really not looking to get scammed into a fake modeling career. I'm sure you can find some other willing kid around here."

It was then that he noticed the lanyard hanging around the man's neck; it had his staff picture and said "Big Hit Entertainment" across the top. He had suddenly noticed it because the guy was holding it out to him as he had spoken, realizing quickly that Tae clearly thought he was poaching on the innocent kids who were there to audition for the idol company.

"I'm with the company everyone is here to audition for and I promise that we're legit."

Tae blushed and shifted his weight, "Oh, I'm sorry. I've just heard of these things happening and them being fake and… Nevermind. I'm really sorry."

The guy grinned, "Hey, it's okay. It happens all the time." Tae realized how relieved he felt at seeing the smile return to the man's face and blushed even darker before shaking his bangs forward to hide behind them. "So why aren't you auditioning…?"

He waited a second, clearly waiting for the high schooler to tell him his name. When Taehyung did, the smile grew even wider. "Well Taehyung, you should really try out. Do you have any musical inclination? I really think you're exactly what we're looking for."

This puzzled Tae. How could the guy know that he was what they wanted if he didn't even know if he could perform in any capacity. When he brought the thought up, the guy looked at him like he was crazy.

"Are you kidding? Three-fourths of what we look for is visual and you would be a total fan favorite."

Taehyung didn't know what to say to that; but he knew it made him feel embarrassed coming from someone who was clearly more attractive than he was. He shrugged as though it didn't phase him, "I didn't get a form signed by my parents. Isn't that required since I'm underage?"

The man, who Tae realized was called Doyun based on his ID lanyard, pondered a moment before throwing up his index finger in the "one second" position. Tae watched as he jogged off through the auditorium, disappearing into the backstage area.

What am I even doing waiting around? I don't actually want to audition; do I? I haven't prepared anything and it's not like I'll be chosen anyway. Yet something about how the man had approached him out of the blue, choosing him out of all the other people in the room, gave him hope.

He only had to wait a few minutes for Doyun to reappear with a grin on his face that sent tingles through Taehyung's cheeks. "Okay, instead of having the permission slip signed, I've arranged it to where we can get a phone confirmation. But keep in mind, if you get through this audition and it turns out it wasn't your actual parent that I talked to, it will make me look pretty awful."

Tae felt himself blush as Doyun nudged him with his shoulder, grinning cheekily at the last comment. He didn't say anything; he just nodded, took out his small, outdated phone, and keyed down to his father's contact.

Part of him hoped that his dad wouldn't pick up, but to his chagrin, there were only two rings before he could hear his father's deep voice on the other end of the line. "Yes, Taehyung? Is everything alright?"

Turning his back to Doyun, Tae licked his lips nervously and gripped the phone to his ear with both hands. "Yes, dad, everything is fine. You remember how I said I was going with Minjun-hyung to that audition?"

"Yes, I remember." The response was clipped but not angry; his father just seemed to be expecting something, though he wasn't sure what that could be.

"Well there's a guy here- a man here, who came up to me and wants me to audition too. I guess badly enough that instead of getting a signed permission form, he said they're willing to just talk to you over the phone. So, I guess I'm asking if you'll talk to them and give me permission to try out." It all came spilling out of Taehyung like word vomit, but he was careful to keep his voice down so the supremely attractive production assistant wouldn't hear him.

There was a pause on the other end of the line; it took so long for his father to answer that Tae had to check the screen of his phone to confirm that he was even still on the line. Finally, the deep, muffled voice said, "Of course, Taehyung. You can audition. Hand me over so I can give official permission."

"Really? Wow. Thank you, dad. Um, here you go, I'm handing you over." Shakily, he stretched the phone out to Doyun, who was patiently waiting a few feet away. Only after he had taken the phone and began to explain the audition process to Tae's father, did Tae allow himself to let out the breath he had been holding.

This is nuts! I'm going to audition for an idol band? I used to dream of being a part of Big Bang! Okay, let's be honest; I dreamed of being in Girls Generation.. I don't know if they'll choose me or anything, but I can't believe I get to try. I just need to get in there and sing my song- wait, I don't have a song picked-

"Alright!" Doyun clapped his hands together, though it was an awkward clap since he was still holding the phone Tae had handed him minutes before. "I talked to your father and we are all set. So follow me."

Tae started to question Doyun's decision to pull him past the line of students waiting to sign up for the auditions, but upon realizing how long the line was getting, he decided to keep his mouth shut and consider himself lucky. At this rate he would actually be home before dark, something it seemed many others wouldn't be able to say.

He looked around for Minjun, hoping to somehow silently signal to him that he was sorry for abandoning him, but he was unable to spot him before he was led behind the stage curtains to the hallway that ran behind the stage.

They walked briskly through the brightly lit hallways until they reached a door that had a small line built up outside of it. Taehyung didn't recognize any of the three boys that stood patiently awaiting their turn to enter the audition room; and he was glad he didn't when Doyun pulled him swiftly, and rudely, past the boys and into the room.

Taehyung recognized the room but only as a place he had seen the school dance team practicing, not as a place he had ever entered. He did not, however, recognize the three men sitting behind a fold out table at the other end of the wide room. Therefore he was surprised when the one in the middle, with deep enough eye crinkles to assume that he smiled often, said his name. "Kim Taehyung."

"Y-yes, sir. That's me." Tae looked to Doyun for help only to realize he had disappeared out the door and left him completely alone. "Thank you for making an exception for me to audition. I really didn't have any plans to try out for this or I would have-"

"Ah, don't worry about it. You're here now. My name is Bang Sihyuk, so we have all pleasantries out of the way. So tell me, Taehyung, how old are you and what talents do you possess that would make you an asset to the team?" The man smiled kindly at Tae in encouragement.

The teenager tried to not pay attention to the camera perched on a tripod behind Mr. Bang's head; but it was hard considering how accusatory the blinking, red light was that told the boy it was recording his every move. "Well- I'm 17 years old. As for talents… I'm not exactly sure what I do that would be of much use to an idol band. I play the saxophone mostly-"

"Can you sing? Dance? Rap? All of the above?" The man's smile had faltered somewhat at Tae's answer as if he wasn't very impressed with what he was hearing.

God, you're an idiot. You're supposed to be selling yourself, not telling him how lame and unuseful you are. Get a fucking grip. "Actually, I have been told I can sing, but-"

"Fantastic! Sing something for us." Mr. Bang said happily before settling back in his chair. One of the men that sat next to him at the table raised an eyebrow at Taehyung, which immediately made Tae break out in a cold sweat.

Just sing something? Is he crazy? I can't just- No. Just do it. Be someone else for once. If you want this… It was the first time Tae actually thought about what he was doing. Did he actually want this? To be in an idol band and everything that came with it? If he got in, his whole life would change. He'd have to move away from his family, presumably stop his schooling, and be thrust into a limelight he'd never experienced in his life. Yet, despite how terrifying it all sounded, his stomach was rolling with excitement rather than fear.

Refusing to allow himself to hesitate, Tae's voice rang out a few verses of his current favorite indie song. He fought the urge to close his eyes as he sang, wanting the chance to observe Mr. Bang and the other two producers as they listened. Maybe he would be able to tell his chances of passing through just by watching their expressions. By the time he came to the end of the verse, where he hoped it was acceptable to stop since he couldn't remember any more of the words, Mr. Bang was sitting forward in his seat with a giant grin on his face.

"Well, Kim Taehyung, you should definitely talk to your parents when you get home. You'll probably need more than permission over the telephone to come visit us in Seoul."

Namjoon's POV:

Pushing the door to the dorm open with his shoulder, Namjoon shuffled into the tiny living room with Jin in tow. He grunted as he allowed the bags of groceries that he carried to slip from his arms onto the couch next to Yoongi's sleeping form.

"Damn it, Yoongi. Get up and help us!" Jin griped as he shoved the younger boy's shoulder hard enough that he woke up with a gasp. "Oh, you're awake! What fantastic timing-"

Namjoon didn't hear the rest of Jin and Yoongi's bickering as he slipped down the hall to the room the five boys shared. He wasn't surprised to see Hoseok standing on the mattress of his own bottom bunk so he could see over the edge of the top bunk; he also wasn't surprised to see the inhabitant of the top bunk's eyes light up at the thought of someone coming to rescue him from Hoseok's incessant talking.

Trying not to smile, Namjoon cleared his throat to interrupt Hoseok as kindly as he could. "Hey guys, come help with dinner."

"Okay!" Hoseok bounded out of the room immediately, slapping Namjoon's back playfully as he went.

Now allowing himself to smile, Namjoon crossed to the bunk where the youngest member still lay. He only thought for a moment before inviting himself up the ladder and into the bed with him; Namjoon tried to not notice how the younger boy stiffened at the close proximity.

Settling cross-legged at the foot of the bed, he let out a sigh. "You're going to have to get used to Hoseok. And really all of us. We're touchers, Jungkook. You've gotta get used to that."

Just as Jungkook went to reply, Namjoon's phone beeped loudly, startling them both. He patted Jungkook's leg in apology as he pulled it out to check it.

"What is it?" Jungkook asked quietly as he watched Namjoon's face break into a smile.

"It looks like they passed someone through the audition in Daegu today. There was only one, but Mr. Bang says he's someone really special."

And hopefully someone my age. Jungkook thought to himself wistfully as he followed Namjoon down the ladder and out into the now lively living room.