+ Ch-ch-ch-change, Boy Boy Boy [You're Beautiful]
Title: Ch-ch-ch-change, Boy Boy Boy
Rating: PG
Characters: Jeremy, minor Taekyung, Shin-woo, Mi-nyeo
Word Count: 900
Notes: Reposting this old thing I wrote for princess_dexter a while ago, because I realized I never posted it elsewhere. Inspired by Hamish and Andy, and helped along by this.
Summary: “Go Mi-nam,” he repeats slowly, “is that a bra?”
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Mi-nam never changes with the rest of them after rehearsals. At first, Jeremy had been glad, because Mi-nam wasn’t really his favourite person, and the less he saw of the trouble-maker the better. But now that he knows about Mi-nam’s parents, he kind of feels sorry for him, because he must be tired of being lonely, by now.
Aside from that, there is, of course, a much more selfish reason - Jeremy is astonishingly bored. Neither of his hyungs are being any fun at all, and having Mi-nam around might at least inject a bit of excitement into their day.
“Hyung,” he says, pulling on his pants and unwrapping his towel from his hair. “Hyung.”
Tae-kyung ignores him, drying his own hair and pretending not to hear, but Jeremy is never deterred that easily.
“Hyung. Hyung. Hyung hyung hyung hyung hyung hyung hyung-”
“What?” Tae-kyung explodes, throwing down his towel and glaring, just like Jeremy knew he would.
“Why doesn’t Go Mi-nam change with us?”
His hyung immediately pulls his sour face. “How should I know?” he grumbles eventually. “I don’t understand anything about him.”
“Perhaps he’s self-conscious,” Shin-woo suggests quietly, and Jeremy considers this while buttoning up his shirt.
It’s certainly a possibility, particularly considering Go Mi-nam’s personality, but he really doesn’t see what he would have to be self-conscious about. Go Mi-nam looks perfectly normal to him. But then again, he’s never really seen enough to know for sure, has he? He could have a disease, or no belly button, or an extra toe, or-
“I’m going to find him,” he announces, stuffing his sweatpants into his backpack, the possibility of an eleventh toe just too cool to pass up. He jumps up and heads for the door, but Tae-kyung moves around to block him, looking rather alarmed.
“Yah. Why do you want him so much?”
“You two are boring! I want to play.”
“So play with yourself!” he retorts, wincing when he registers the connotations.
Jeremy holds in a laugh. “Hyung,” he says disapprovingly, “we just showered.”
He pushes past him, but Tae-kyung shouts, “Yah!” and grabs his shoulder, spinning him around. “Just… just…” he flounders.
Jeremy waits.
Shin-woo eventually fills in, rational as always. “Knock before you go in, okay?”
Jeremy scoffs, manoeuvres out of Tae-kyung’s grasp, and leaves.
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It only takes him a few minutes to find the supply closet that Mi-nam is changing in, and he is aided by Mi-nam’s unmistakable angelic voice drifting out from it. As he gets closer, he makes out the words to Lovely Day, and Mi-nam’s voice breaks on a high note. He sighs and tries again, but again he can’t make the note.
Jeremy knows exactly where he’s going wrong. A.N.Jell’s vocal coach taught them how to handle pitch issues before they debuted, but it doesn’t seem like anyone’s been through it with Mi-nam yet.
And so, Jeremy is struck by an idea - maybe he can teach Mi-nam! They can go out for a meal, because he’s always hungry after dance practice, and maybe they can even go to a movie or to karaoke, and then Jeremy can teach him about singing, and Mi-nam won’t be alone and Jeremy won’t be bored! It’s a win-win situation! Maybe they could even walk Jolie together! Then it would be a win-win-win situation! He even knows a really good restaurant right near the company that you can take your dogs to…
So caught up is he in his excitement that Jeremy forgets to knock, and he pushes the door open, saying, “Go Mi-nam-”
Mi-nam squeals, yanking his towel up to his chest, but not before Jeremy sees-
“Go Mi-nam,” he repeats slowly, “is that a bra?”
Mi-nam’s mouth opens and closes like a fish, and his eyes go very very wide as he clutches the towel tighter. Jeremy stares at the still-visible black strap running up his shoulder, trying to come up with possible explanations.
He fails.
“Go Mi-nam?” he prompts.
“It’s… it’s…” His mouth works frantically, but nothing else comes out.
Jeremy is just starting to get suspicious when he hears from behind him, “It’s a man-bra.” He turns, and Tae-kyung looks directly at him. “It’s from a Japanese fan. I thought we all got one.”
“I didn’t get one…” Jeremy frowns. He would probably remember if someone gave him a bra for men.
“That’s too bad. They’re quite useful.” Tae-kyung looks over his shoulder and adds, “Go Mi-nam. When you’re finished here, come with me. We need to work on your pitch.”
“I was going to do that,” Jeremy complains, half feeling like his hyungs never want him to have any fun.
“He works with me,” he says sharply. “I wrote the song. Go Mi-nam, you have ten minutes.” He walks away, and Jeremy watches him go, pouting. He really doesn’t understand his hyung. What on earth is there to be so surly about, all the time? If he weren’t so talented, Jeremy doubts that anyone would actually put up with him.
“We’ll walk Jolie tomorrow, though, right?” he asks, turning back to Mi-nam, who is now fully dressed, still looking flustered.
Mi-nam nods decisively, lips pressing together in that determined way he has. “Yes, of course.” He moves past Jeremy after Tae-kyung, and Jeremy grabs his wrist.
“Yah, that man-bra. Does it really help?”
He gives a tiny nod.
“Can I borrow it?”
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