Fate | Jakehoon

chapter 4: hidden in plain sight

Trigger warning: mention of food restriction, diets.

With their first-ever comeback preparations for their second mini album, Border: Carnival, going on at full speed, Sunghoon and the members are tirelessly working to prove everyone their abilities. Their schedule is packed. Starting from 10 a.m with recordings, barely having an hour break for lunch and continuing with dance practice until midnight. Among these, Jake and Ni-Ki also have Korean language classes, so they are forced to wake up even earlier than the rest.

Sunghoon is finishing up his recording session for 'Mixed Up' when Jake comes in, dressed up in a hoodie and with a jacket on top. Sunghoon finds it odd, given the fact that it is mildly warm inside the building, and especially in the recording booth.

"Hello. I'm sorry for being late," Jake bows his head to the producer.

"You're just in time," the producer replies, and turns his attention back to the boy in the booth.

"Sunghoon, that was great. You're done."

"Thank you," Sunghoon bows and proceeds to take off his headphones.

"You can take off your jacket. It's hot in there," the producer tells Jake, equally puzzled as Sunghoon, by the boy's choice of clothes.

"I'm fine like this," Jake lets out an awkward chuckle and the producer shrugs his shoulders.

The sound is on, so Sunghoon can hear their exchange. 

As soon as he comes out of the booth, he does a quick handshake with Jake and wishes him good luck. Yet, the coldness of Jake's hands doesn't go unnoticed by the younger.

Despite his icy-cold hands, Jake is happily smiling in his usual note, and Sunghoon can't see anything else out of the ordinary. He looks mostly fine.

"Do you want to stay?" Sunghoon is ready to leave when the producer asks, taking him by surprise.

"Can I?" throughout the recording of their debut album, they weren't allowed to watch other members, mostly because they were considered potentially disruptive for the work process.

Sunghoon thinks it's a stupid reason, because most of the members, if not all, would be soundless and observant, and actually interested to learn about music production.

"You're quiet, so I'll make an exception," the producer winks at him and Sunghoon smiles shyly.

Sunghoon takes him up on the offer and texts Jay not to wait for him at the cafeteria. They had planned on eating lunch together but instead, he asks Jay to bring some food for both, in the practice room.

"Let's start from your first part in Mixed Up, Jake," the producer says and Jake nods his head, starting to sing his lines but on the last verse, his voice doesn't go high enough.

"Again. On the 'so I'll become quiet' it needs to be higher pitched at the end," the producer explains and Jake goes again.

Sadly, Jake isn't able to hit the note correctly even once, and the word 'again' is being repeated countless times by the producer. Sunghoon is concerned for Jake because if he keeps it up this way, he could strain his voice badly.

"I'm sorry," Jake apologizes for the nth time and Sunghoon can see the boy's own dissatisfaction on his face.

The producer lets out a sigh. "Let's move on to your second part."

"You got this, Jake!" Sunghoon tries to be supportive, with a thumbs up and an encouraging smile.

It doesn't matter though, because whatever Jake does, he still can't reach the higher notes. At this point, he is just mindlessly straining his voice. The producer is getting frustrated, and Sunghoon's just wishing for the recording to stop, for the sake of his best friend's vocal cords.