#thefirstlinetobabyyouareis_ifellinloveatfirstsight

[imaginidol]

Jake: Soundcheck

[JAKE: hey! U still coming to soundcheck with me?]

Your phone buzzes with the notification from your close friend Jake’s text. You smile upon reading his question, quickly responding back as you picked up the pace jogging towards the stadium.

[YOU: yes I am! :) I’ll be there in 5 mins]

After about thirty seconds from the moment you hit send, your phone already buzzes with his reply.

[JAKE: meet me at the left side of the pit]

—

The stadium is enormous once you walk through the northwest entrance, leading almost directly to the stage itself. It takes you a second to spot Jake, who was adjusting his in-ears and pacing back and forth onstage. He tapped the mic a few times with his fingers and started humming the tune of what sounded like a song by Exo.

[YOU: is that exo??]

Jake, from the stage, pulls his mic slightly away from his lips as he grabs his buzzing phone from a back pocket. Upon reading your text, he smiles, his head looking up and in all directions in search of you. You wave towards him, and he almost immediately catches sight of you, happily waving back.

“How did you know?” He speaks into the mic, the sound of his voice booming in all directions around you. “Sing it with me, then,” he smiles.

You both start singing the familiar chorus of Exo’s ‘Baby You Are’ in unison.

“Baby you are, [the only one I’ve been looking for is you], yeah you are, [all day long you think I’m going crazy], baby you are!”

He lets out a small laugh and gives you a thumbs-up, reaching down to text you something on his phone.

[JAKE: I’ll be down in 5 mins]

Don’t rush, you think to yourself. Enhypen was, in fact, at the last show of their most recent tour, and you didn’t want to take any time away from him for the last of these few special moments. You look back up and smile at him, giving him your most supportive thumbs-up and finger hearts.

About eleven minutes later, after much of Jake humming and singing different songs into the mic — this time actual Enhypen songs — he ends his soundcheck and starts making his way to where you were admiring from below.

“That wasn’t five minutes, sorry,” he smiles, but you wave him off.

“It’s your last show of the tour, so it’s okay! Are you excited?”

“I kind of am, but I’m a bit… nervous?” He laughs, his Aussie accent thickening at the ends of his sentences. Usually his accent was more noticeable when he was overly excited or anxious about something.

“You’re gonna do great, I know you always do!” You say, wanting to lighten his spirits. “Plus, you’ve done this thousands of times. And this time you’re gonna have the most fun, since it’ll be the end of another successful tour!”

Jake nods, a toothy grin escaping his shy expression.

“I hope so,” he hums as he looks up towards the rest of the members onstage, “I really appreciate you coming along to a few of my shows this whole tour. It’s come a long way, we’ve come a long way.”

You nod and assure him well that it was all worth it.

“You know that I like making time to support you, Jake. You’re doing amazing, and I hope you and the other members know that every single day.”

“Thank you, you know your encouragement always means a lot,” he grins.

He reaches a hand to rub the back of his neck, his eyes searching the floor and your shoes before whispering something towards you.

“I, uh, can we talk in private after the show tonight?”

You’re taken aback, hoping you weren’t about to get in trouble for anything. He must’ve noticed your giant floating question marks and exclamation points because he then adds, “No, you didn’t do anything wrong! I just… we just haven’t gotten to catch up this whole week.”

You nod. “Yeah, we can definitely talk. I’ll be watching from the pit close to backstage somewhere, so I can find you after—”

“I’ll come find you,” he interrupts, his hand reaching towards your arm.

You feel your cheeks turn hot at the feel of his hand against your skin, and desperately try to bite your lip to make the terribly obvious blushing go away.

“Oh, okay,” you try to smile. But at this point, you swear you can almost see a faint blush across his face, too.

“Jake, we’re gonna practice the choreo for the title track,” a booming voice from multiple speakers interrupts you both from the stage. It’s Sunghoon, but once he catches a glimpse of you with Jake he immediately waves hello. You wave back, followed by a wave at Sunoo, then Jay, then Niki, then Jungwon, and finally Heeseung.

“See you tonight, then?” Jake gives you one last, hopeful grin before sprinting back up the stairs and towards the stage.

Enhypen have said their final good-byes to all the Engene present at their last show of the touring season, the curtains closing in behind them and the sounds of their hidden laughter and joy still ringing about the stadium speakers.

You wait in a VIP lounge backstage with a few of the familiar staff you’ve grown to befriend throughout the tour.

I haven’t stopped thinking about Jake this whole show, you thought to yourself. When he put his hand on me, he just felt so… different.

A good different.

You’re too lost in your own thought to notice Jake has snuck up behind you and tackles you into a very annoyingly sweaty hug.

“END OF THE TOUR!!!” He chants with the rest of his members. Eventually you manage you (grossly) push him away and wipe off his sweat with a napkin from a coffee table.

—

Once the members have changed and are about to head towards their hotels for the night, Jake pulls you aside at one point once the staff wraps up the last of their cleaning.

“Come, I want to show you something,” he whispered. He turned a hand towards you, palm-up, and you gently place your hand in his, following him to your destination.

He’s brought you back into the now empty, peaceful venue. You stand with him on stage, looking out towards the thousands of seats that were completely filled only about an hour ago. There’s remnants of confetti, stage gifts, and the shadows of a crowd well-loved who once cheered for their favorite group, Enhypen.

“Your last show? It was beautiful, Jake,” you awe towards the vastness of the venue.

“It was,” he says, and you notice that he still hasn’t let go of your hand. You try not to make it known, in hopes that maybe he’ll keep holding onto you.

“But,” he whispers, his gaze dropping towards the floor.

“But…?” You try to meet your eyes with his. “Is something wrong?”

“Uh,” he stutters, trying to put his thoughts and words together as he had rehearsed in front of multiple bathroom mirrors. “I wanted to say…”

You both stay silent for a moment, until he turns his body towards you and places his left hand into your right. Now, both your hands are in his, his gaze nearly melting yours in place.

“I wouldn’t know a better time to tell you this except here, in front of this venue,” he whispers.

“I want you to know that, firstly, thank you from the bottom of my heart for having come to many of our shows throughout this tour. I know it’s an effort from you physically just as much as it is emotionally.”

“Jake, you know I wouldn’t mind any of that as long as it means getting to see you do what you love.” You offer him your most genuine smile.

“Yeah, I know that. But you know, you coming along to our shows has also caused you and I to get to know each other… much… closer? Like, you were my good friend before, but now I feel that you mean more to me than you might think.”

You smile. “I feel that, too.”

“Uhm,” he turns towards the venue, then looks back towards you. “The whole time we’ve been touring, I couldn’t help but realize that… you stood out to me.”

“I’m sorry, I did what?”

“You… you stand out to me. We’ve gone to many countries, many places, many venues, and there will be many more. But… you are still the one person I look forward to being around most.”

Now you’re really blushing.

“Your support and encouragement, I love the most. Your compassion and patience, I love most. Your face in a crowd of hundreds, I love most. You…”

You feel burning tears creep their way up to your eyes, blurring your vision of the precious boy standing before you.

“You, I love most.”

Ah, damn, he actually said it. He actually said it!

“Jake,” you whisper, “do you remember that one song we were singing earlier at soundcheck?”

“The one by Exo?” He wipes a tear off your cheek with one hand. With his other, he reassuringly rubs his thumb across yours.

“Mmhm,” you nod. “If you want me to be honest, the first line of that song is the way I felt about you when I first met you. It’s a feeling that kind of… hasn’t really gone away.”

You can tell the moment that he, for a couple seconds, disassociates in trying to recall the first line to ‘Baby You Are,’ followed by a ridiculous smile once he realized what it was.

“Okay,” he whispers, the grin taking over ear-to-ear now. “That leaves me with only one more thing to ask.”

“Go ahead,” you reassure him.

“Will you let me be your boyfriend?”

You haven’t even finished saying yes! when he gently but excitedly pulls you in for a kiss, his lips parting to meet yours with gratitude and happiness and all the lovely little moments that came in between.

It might be the end of a tour, he thinks to himself, but it’s a sign towards a new beginning with you.