Discovering Love--A Jisol Fic

A Chance

None of them said anything—what could they have said?

He pried Joshua off of him and made for the exit. He wanted to be alone, he didn't want them to see him like this especially not Joshua.

He didn't think about where he was going, he just knew he had to leave.

"Hansol! Wait! Don't do this," came Joshua's voice from behind.

He started running.

"Hansol, please don't hide, don't shut yourself out. Please, I'm here for you."

Hansol slowed down but didn't turn around. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Hansol, hey, look at me," came Joshua's soothing voice.

He kept his head down. He just couldn't bear to look Joshua in the eye.

Joshua cupped his cheeks and brought his head up. "Don't run away from me, I want to be with you—you don't have to suffer alone."

Hansol slowly brought his eyes up to meet Joshua's. "You don't have to worry about me."

"But I want to," Joshua said with an encouraging smile. "Hansol, your friends worry about you, they care about you, they want to see you happy."

Hansol knew that but he didn't want to burden other people with his problems.

Joshua wrapped his arms around Hansol and rubbed soothing circles into his back. "You're not alone Hansol. I'm going to do whatever it takes to make it better, I promise." Hansol melted into Joshua's embrace and allowed himself to sob quietly onto Joshua's shoulder.

Joshua held onto him tightly and didn't let go until Hansol did. He'd begun to notice that Hansol liked physical contact, maybe it made him feel more grounded; whatever the reason was, Joshua was willing to hold onto him for however Hansol needed.

Joshua wiped away Hansol's tears with his thumbs. He couldn't bear to look at Hansol like this. "I'm going to fix this, okay?"

"Joshua, you don't have to do anything," Hansol said. He sounded so broken, it brought tears to Joshua's eyes.

"I can't stand to see you like this," he said, a tear rolling down his cheek "I don't want you to be upset anymore."

"Joshua—"

"No, I'm going to do something, and you can't tell me not to." Before Hansol could protest, Joshua took his hand and led him down the hall. He still wasn't sure what he was going to say to the director once he found her, but he'd come up with something.

The director was already waiting in the hotel lobby, even though it was another hour until call time.

"Director, I need to speak to you," Joshua said.

"How can I help you?" the director asked.

"Hansol and I have decided to do a duet." It was the first thing that came to him mind.

"You do?" She looked from Joshua to Hansol.

They both nodded.

"And why is that?"

"I realized that Hansol's voice was what was missing in my song." It wasn't a lie, not entirely; he loved Hansol's voice and it would sound good if they sung together.

The director sighed. "Alright then, I'll put you two down for a duet. Are you ready to audition today?"

They shook their heads.

"I'll see about letting you two skip today's auditions. For now, just wait, I'll let you know what the board says."

"Thank you," Joshua said and began walking back to their room, Hansol by his side.

"Hansol, I'm really sorry," Joshua said once they were away from the lobby, "you don't have to do a duet with me if you don't want to, it was—"

Faster than Joshua could process, Hansol wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled him in for a kiss.

"I'd love to sing with you," Hansol said against his lips.

Joshua was almost sure he was blushing.

Hansol kissed him again, and Joshua thought he'd never get sick of it, of the feeling of Hansol's lips on his, of the butterflies in his stomach, of his cheeks reddening.

"I'm sorry to kill the mood," Joshua said, "but we have an entire song to write and memorize."

"Maybe not an entire song..."

"How's that?"

"I produced it a while ago when we were just starting off, but it didn't quite match our style so I kind of set it aside," Hansol said. They were back in their room, sitting on the bed, Hansol with his computer on his lap. "I wrote a few lyrics to go with it too."

"Let's hear it," Joshua said.

Hansol nodded and hit play.

It was different than anything he'd ever produced, but in Hansol's won opinion, it was his best work yet. The long hours he spent working on it had proven good results.

He watched Joshua's expression while he listened to it; it looked like he was liking it, or at least Hansol hoped he was.

He got his answer not long after.

"It's amazing," Joshua said immediately after the song ended.

"Thanks," Hansol said. "I think a few more lyrics and we'll be good to go."

"Yes! Definitely! Hansol, this song is perfect," Joshua said.

Hansol smiled shyly. "Thanks Joshua."

"You're welcome Hansol. Okay, now, let me see the lyrics you have so far," Joshua said.

Hansol nodded and pulled up a document on his computer.

Joshua scanned through it, mouthing the words as he went.

"I love it," he said, "this is beautiful Hansol, I had no idea your lyrics were so meaningful."

"I write what's in my heart," Hansol said.

"Well then your heart is beautiful." Joshua surprised him with a back hug, almost making him drop his laptop on the floor.

Hansol was the one blushing this time.

He closed his laptop and turned around to face Joshua. "Pinch me."

Joshua was confused. "What?"

"I think I'm dreaming, pinch me—wait, no no no, don't pinch me. If this is a dream I want to enjoy it."

Joshua took Hansol's face in his hands. "It's not a dream." He planted a soft kiss to his lips. "It's all real."

They broke apart at the sound of a knock on the door.

"It's probably Soonyoung, just leave it," Hansol murmured and brought his lips back to Joshua's.

There was another knock, louder this time, followed by, "Hansol? Joshua? It's the director."

The scrambled apart at that.

"We're coming," Joshua said.

They exchanged looks and held themselves back from giggling. "We'll continue this later," Joshua said.

Hansol nodded and they both went up to the door.

"Would you like to come in?" Joshua asked politely.

"No thank you, I'll be quick. I spoke to the SCA board and they have agreed to let you skip today's auditions, in consideration of Joshua's high score—but don't go around telling anyone."

"Thank you, director," they both replied.

"No problem, oh, and Hansol, just so you know, your score was 20.8, only .2 point from making it."

The corner of his mouth quirked up. "Thank you, director."