fire water- code kunst (ft. g.soul & tablo)

~YOONGI'S POV~

"That's all we'll cover today. You're improving a lot, but you still need to work on controlling your breathing in between lines. Pronunciation and clear speech for you have only improved, so don't feel too discouraged. I'll meet with you again next Wednesday as well, alright?" Yoongi's vocal trainer Cami said as she grabbed her book bag.

"No problem. Thanks, Cami!" Yoongi replied politely as she left the rehearsal room. Sighing, Yoongi reached for his music and gathered it up. He glanced at his watch as he slipped the sheets into their designated folder. His classes were finished early today; it was only 4 pm.
Smiling, he reached for his phone to call you. He knew your schedule rather well, and you were just now getting out of class.

He scrolled through his contact list to get to your name. But, just as he was about to press "call", Cami was standing in the doorway.

"Yoongi," she called out, "Bang PD wants you to come to his office."

"Ah, okay. Sure. Thanks for letting me know," Yoongi forced a small smile to be polite, but he wasn't able to mask his disappointment.
Cami nodded before promptly leaving again.

Yoongi sighed, gathering his things and starting down the walk to the main office. Jaw clenching slightly, he was filled with both irritation and disappointment. He really wanted to surprise you with some extra time, especially after he noticed how weird you had acted on Saturday.

At first, he thought part of your strange behavior had been due to the stress of what was happening with Stevens, but Stevens was fine now. Sure, his accident was an ongoing case, but physically and mentally, Stevens was okay. He'd been checked out of the hospital yesterday morning.
So now Yoongi felt that maybe your strange behavior had more to do with himself, rather than Stevens.

The confusing part for him was that you had been fine for a while on Saturday evening. He woke just shortly after you had fallen asleep. You had been slumped over in an uncomfortable position, one wrong move from falling off the bed completely; it was clear to him then that you had been watching him sleep, and that you had been watching him for a while. That fact warmed his heart, that you would want to sit there with him while he rested.

And so he had carefully helped you lay down completely, leaving plenty of space between you two. But, you were the one that had curled into him. You were the one that gripped the fabric of his worn out T-shirt as you slept. You were the one whose warmth and steady breathing was enough to coax Yoongi back to sleep. He thought everything was okay.

But then the kiss happened. He had kissed you so carefully and so sweetly, but you had rejected it, and he noticed. Your lips didn't mesh with his in their typical effortless way. Had your eyes even been closed?
Never once had you simply stood there in the midst of a kiss; half of the time you were the one initiating the follow-up.

So it wasn't the fact that you didn't kiss him back that worried Yoongi; it was the fact that it was so out of character for you. He went home that night with an uneasy feeling, one that settled uncomfortably within him, one that wouldn't go away.

He wanted to see you. He wanted to clear up whatever the issue was. He wanted to see you happy again. He wanted you to stop worrying about him. He wanted things to be how they were just a few short days ago, before the accident.

And in the back of his mind, deep down, a part of him wanted things to go back to the way they were before he got signed.

Because somehow, things were simpler then.

|||||

"You wanted to see me, Sir?" Yoongi knocked on the half-open door to Bang PD's office.

"Yoongi, come in! There's someone I want you to meet."

Taking a silent yet extremely deep breath, Yoongi pushed the door open and walked into the office. Even though he really wasn't in the mood to talk, or to be excited, or to deal with literally anything, he plastered a smile on his face.

Bang PD's office consisted of a desk, two chairs residing in a front of it, a flat screen on the wall to the left, and a fish tank. Posters of famous singers and old vinyl records hung neatly on the walls, clearly organized with a lot of careful thought. Rising from the chair on the left was a tall guy with brown hair. He wondered again what this meeting was about.

"Yoongi, I'd like you to meet Namjoon. Namjoon, this is Min Yoongi, the other trainee I was telling you about."

The guy turned around, bowing shyly and introducing himself, "I'm Kim Namjoon. Nice to meet you." Yoongi bowed as well, introducing himself in return.

"Have a seat, you two."

Yoongi awkwardly shuffled across the room to sit in the chair on the right, and Namjoon did the same.

"I'll cut to the chase. I think both of you are incredibly talented artists, and I want to see what kind of music you could make together. You are both trainees now, and this is the time for us to experiment and see what your potential might be with other artists in your field," Bang PD explained, and Yoongi was suddenly excited and intimidated all at the same time.

The thought of working with someone else sounded incredibly fun to him. Collaborating with someone that felt as passionate about music as he did would help him be more inspired, and perhaps even make a new friend. But, he was also intimidated. He didn't know Namjoon. He didn't know what Namjoon's credentials were, but whatever they were, he likely had better ones than Yoongi. Being a trainee at the company wasn't exactly a competition, but there was a slight competitive atmosphere. Yoongi's goal was to keep the eyes of head management, to keep them confident in him. So the introduction of another rapper could be seen as somewhat of a threat.

"That sounds great to me," Namjoon began, looking over at Yoongi, "They played some of your music for me and I really liked it. I'd be happy to work with you on something if you're up for it." Namjoon's confidence threw Yoongi off a bit, but the guy seemed nice.

"I think it would be fun," Yoongi agreed, and Bang PD clapped his hands together.

"Great! Because I already reserved a spot for the both of you in an underground rap concert this Saturday. I want to see how the both of you work with other people. If you can't write something together in time, then perform one of your other originals. This is merely a test of chemistry, so don't feel too stressed either way. That's what sets BigHit apart from other talent companies out there; we want you guys to have creative freedom and succeed at the same time. Understand?"

Yoongi and Namjoon both nodded respectively. Hope was rising in Yoongi's chest at the opportunity he'd just been given. Regardless of whether or not he really became friends with Namjoon or if they worked well together, he was going to be put on stage again. He was going to gain more experience, and get to what he loved at the same time.

"Now, gather your things. We've cleared a studio for the both of you. Go! Have fun!" Bang PD sent them off with a laugh.

Yoongi and Namjoon bowed before leaving, and Yoongi had to stop himself from skipping down the hallway.

"How long have you been at BigHit for?" Namjoon asked, his voice sounding casual and not too pushy.

"Hmm, not too long. It's been over a month now," Yoongi replied as they continued to walk down the hallway together. "How about you? I haven't seen you around before."

"Bang PD just brought me in today, actually. Be honest though, do they seem fair here? Everything Bang PD told me sounded good, but I wasn't sure how much truth there was to it," Namjoon explained.

"I think so. I mean the hours can be a little crazy and the classes strenuous sometimes. But, they seem to really care about us. I know that well from a recent experience," Yoongi nearly chuckled.

"What happened?"

"I left in the middle of a mandatory dance class because I had an emergency to attend to."

"What kind of emergency?" Namjoon raised an eyebrow.

"My girlfriend's uncle got hit by a car. I mean, honestly, he's lucky that he's alive and the worst thing wrong with him is a messed up leg. She called me crying on my 5-minute break, and I couldn't not go to her. My instructor gave me a hard time for it, but Bang PD was understanding..." Yoongi trailed off as his memories were flooded with all of the questions that Bang PD had presented to him. In the midst of the excitement of meeting Namjoon, he had momentarily forgotten his troubles. But now, they were all coming right back.

Yoongi sighed.

"He's okay with you being in a relationship?" Namjoon sounded surprised, and honestly, Yoongi understood why. Relationships and pending fame didn't go well together.

"He's okay with it, but he did give me a lot of warnings," and in a split second, Yoongi's mood had stooped from low to lower.

"Like what?" Namjoon asked, but then corrected himself, "I'm sorry. It's not my business."

"No, it's okay. He just wanted me to consider that if I debut and become popular, it's going to be hard on the relationship. It'll be hard on me, and it'll be hard on her. He's given me the choice to back out on our contract actually..." Yoongi trailed off again, more bothered about the whole situation than he wanted to admit to Namjoon.

"Have you decided, then?"

"No. I don't know what to do or how to feel about it. I understand his point about things becoming more difficult, but I don't want to accept that kind of reality. I want both, you know? I want my music out there. I want to perform. I want to tour. But, I want her too. So, I guess that's why I'm stuck," Yoongi said quietly.

"Have you talked to her about it? That might actually make things clearer for you," Namjoon suggested kindly, and Yoongi was suddenly happy to have someone to confide in. He had literally just met Namjoon, but already felt like he could trust him.

"Barely. I don't want to give her that burden. She's already stressed that I'm in trouble for leaving class for her before. If she knew I was considering giving up my contract to be with her, I don't know what she'd do. She might be relieved. But, I think it's more likely that it's going to make her feel guilty, even though she shouldn't. She's watched my entire career bloom and grow, and she's been so supportive. I don't think she could stand it if I threw away my career for her. I think that in it of itself would end our relationship. But, I wish she wouldn't be that way. It's my decision," Yoongi shrugged.

"But have you ever considered that maybe she does want this for you? You're saying that she's been really supportive of you so far, so what's the issue? Why would it be so bad for you to continue on how things are? You pursuing your music and her?" Namjoon presented ideas that Yoongi hadn't quite thought all the way through.

"Maybe I'm just scared," Yoongi sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"Scared of what, exactly?"

"That eventually I'm not going to be able to be there for her. That my work is always going to be in the way. That she's going to resent what I do because it takes away my time with her."

Namjoon nodded, pursing his lips as he perused Yoongi's response.

"You, my friend, sound like you have a lot of conflicting emotions," Namjoon began.

"Yeah. So?"

"It sounds like you need a creative outlet. Let's go write that song."