Chapter Text
America.
Jisung was having a difficult time deciding about how he felt about America.
There's a certain thing about the United States, an aura, a feeling foreigners have about it.
His whole life, America was this far away land that was, for lack of a better word, 'cool'. The place where the celebrities and the music came from, the birth place of rap.
Don't get him wrong, he's excited off his ass to finally arrive in the US, but now that he's here, he was having second thoughts on how glamorous it would actually be. It honestly hadn't hit him what would really be happening until he landed, now all he could do was sit and stare out the window at the passing plane lanes, trying to take it all in.
He was going to be training in America, with one of the biggest baseball teams in the world.
In a shocking turn of events, this year, the KBO (Korean Baseball Organization) is paying good money for a few players from a few of its teams to travel to America for a few months to be trained and play for one of the most well known MLB teams in America, the Los Angeles Angels. It didn't quite make sense to others when it was first announced, but when you pay attention to baseball as much as the fanatics do, it starts to click. Really, as much as Jisung hates to say it, Korean and American baseball have distinct differences, not only in the way they play, but in skill level.
The program is aimed to improve the KBO's players technical skills and bring back new techniques and opportunities for Korean baseball as a unit.
It wasn't that he was exceptionally nervous to play baseball, that's what he does, and he has to admit where he came from, he was one of the best. But he's going to be living and playing in America, a place full of hopeful players, trained to a much more intense extent than he was.
Sure, living in the United States was a great childhood dream, but the more Jisung overthought it, this was scary shit.
The culture, the language barrier, the pure idea of living in a foreign country, it was absolutely terrifying.
But now as he lands in the United States, the trip of a century, he has no choice. All he can do is try to decide how he feels about where he'll be living for the next months, so far he's come up empty handed.
All his teammates tell him is that it's a opportunity of a lifetime, that he should be jumping with joy, to even to picked for this opportunity was an honor, but what awaits him in the home of the free, he is unsure of.
If anything, he has a bad feeling about it.
Whatever is going to happen in his time here, it absolutely can't be good, he can just feel it.
"Yah, Han Jisung, get your ass in gear, there's people waiting to get off this plane." As soon as Seungmin mentions the line of people waiting with their carry ons, forming behind a pissy Seungmin, he scrambles to his feet, grabbing his things.
He slightly bowed to apologize and mustered up a quiet "sorry" in English, only to realize the irony of the two actions put together and feeling a bit awkward.
He wasn't sure he could get used to this.
Checking his bags instead of carrying them on seemed like a genius idea now that he had a hoard of people waiting for him to get out of his seat. If he made the line wait for him any longer to haul his carry on out of the overhead bin, he was sure they would throw a fit. He quickly grabbed his backpack from under his chair and speed walked down the aisle to catch up with the rest of his team. Woojin and Changbin stood near the exit of the plane, waiting for Seungmin and Jisung.
Woojin looked like a mom counting children's heads, quietly whispering all the names accounting for everyone. As soon as he had rounded up all three of his players, he quickly ushered them out of the plane into the passenger boarding bridge connecting the airplane to the terminal gate.
Jisung looked warily at the opening leading to the terminal. The opening seemed to grow bigger as he walked towards it. Seungmin and Changbin talk idly, way too calmly in the squirrelly boy's opinion.
Entering the airport, Jisung could already feel the rush of fear, the feeling of being out of place.
In reality, no one knows he's a foreigner, no one knows how nervous he is, but he knows.
Woojin notices the ridged expression on the scared boy's face and comes up behind him to rub his back soothingly. If the oldest was tired, he wouldn't let anyone know, he was the rock, the glue that held these boys together, no chance in hell that this lot would make it even ten minutes without their manager.
"Okay, the shuttle that's taking us to our hotel, should be here already, that means we're speed walking to baggage claim, we don't want our first impression to be the late ones, got it?"
It's almost humorous how Woojin maintains his serious manager voice when in a casual setting, but Jisung only smiles at the older's habits, suddenly spotting the closet bathroom.
"Hey, hyung, sorry if this wasn't a part of your schedule, but I gotta pee." Jisung watches as Woojin's face drops into one of frustration, he groans, "Go pee, be fast, like lighting, we'll wait here."
Jisung does a little victory dance before running off to the bathroom he previously spotted.
When he walks in the large bathroom the first thing he notices is there's many people in there, probably people from the same flight, doing the same as the Korean boy.
It takes Jisung by surprise when he sees him, he almost wants to run straight out of there.
He was aware that other baseball teams from Korea had confirmed they were participating in the program as well, but he didn't quite realize what that meant. The KBO encompasses all of the nation's baseball teams, which are few in number considering their total teams are only a third of what the MLB has. As a result, teams from the KBO often find themselves playing the same teams multiple times a season. It's not uncommon to find friends or rivalry's across teams, and Jisung's team just so happens to find that in the Doosan Bears.
So seeing Lee Know, a very prominent player, the Bear's very own second baseman and star batter, he was quite taken aback. He really only wanted to pee, and he knew he had to be fast, but he couldn't help but stare. Korean baseball royalty was washing his hands while checking his appearance in the mirror, a hand coming up to fix his hair. Of course, maybe Jisung was baseball royalty too, but he would never admit that.
Not only is Lee Minho, an incredible baseball player, he was not bad looking in the slightest, and Jisung had known that for a while. His countless sports endorsements, ads, he's everywhere in the sports world. Advertisement companies see pretty face, muscular body, and famous sports player all in one and croon. It's hard to tell level of attractiveness from across a field, but Jesus he was just on a 11 hour plane ride and he looks like that. Plus there was always the thighs, the god damn thighs.
Jisung was fine staring at the man through the mirror, that was until he met his eyes. Maybe it was pure humiliation, but he couldn't seem to look away as Minho's face contorted into one of confusion, then realization, and finally settling with a smirk.
Jisung knew he was wearing his LG Twins tshirt, and he knew that they had seen each other before. Thankfully no harsh words had been thrown each other's way before, but still the intimidating feeling was radiating off the man.
The Lee Know was drying his hands of all things, all while delivering the most smug look imaginable right through the mirror at a star studded Han Jisung.
And he was petrified.
He was frozen in his spot, which happened to be close to the entrance of the bathroom, a rather unfortunate location.
When the man ran right into Jisung, he was obviously sorry, spewing a constant stream of "I'm so sorry"s and "Are you okay"s.
Jisung had a heavy blush on his face, he was so embarrassed. The pure fact that he was ran into because he was staring too hard at the man from his rival team, while he was watching, it was humiliating.
Jisung barely even manages an "I'm okay" before he quickly leaves.
He wasn't sure he needed to peed quite so bad anymore, it could wait.
—
Jisung didn't know what he was expecting, maybe he thought the air would smell different, or he would immediately be ridiculed for his limited English and overall foreigner aura. But he wasn't, in fact, the airport was so diverse with all different races and languages and in one place, it almost shocked him.
When the sliding doors opened to reveal the car lanes, he found that it looked almost the same as in Korea. Minus the English plastered everywhere and the hoards of diverse people, it was the same, that was good. He can deal with that.
Woojin walks ahead of the group leading them presumably to the shuttle, and of course carrying the most luggage of everyone, taking extra bags from his teammates against their will. Woojin's head darts from sign to sign, he was never really be good at English, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't try.
Jisung tries to help him out by reading a few, but honestly, Woojin was walking way too fast for him to have enough time to process the signs.
That's when Jisung, in his search for comprehension, spots a man holding a paper with something that he finally understood, Korean. There in big bold font was LG 트윈스 and in smaller font below was the English name the LG Twins.
Jisung could recognize that, like it was his first name, Korean or not.
But it was still thoughtful of them to include the Korean, it made him feel more comfortable.
When we made it to the man standing in front of the shuttle, the first thing Jisung noticed was his unbelievably bright smile and dimples. He looked nervous, but excitedly so.
He wasn't anything like Jisung had expected, in fact, he was expecting quite the opposite of the boy in front of him.
He was expecting old, grumpy, white guy, not young, smiley, Asian guy.
When the boy spoke up, the first thing he did was bow. Jisung was quite taken aback, a quiet ‘oh’ slipping out of his mouth as a perfect 'annyeonghaseyeo' popped out of mystery boy's mouth along with it.
Seungmin said what we were all thinking, in English of course, "You are very good at speaking Korean." Seungmin almost sounded perfect when he spoke English something, that Jisung would always be impressed by.
The grey haired boy giggles in response to Seungmin's compliment, "Ah thank you," a surprising heavy Australian accent peaking through, however he shakes his head afterward, "But I'm Korean." Changbin, who had not previously been listening to the conversation, for lack of trying to comprehend, suddenly flicks his head to catch up when the man in front of them switches, to fluent Korean mid sentence.
Woojin has raised eyebrows as well, feeling comfortable enough to speak Korean around the boy now, "Wait, you speak Korean?"
Chan smiles one of his bright proud smiles again, "Yep." He suddenly realizes he hasn't introduced himself yet, "Oh, uhm, I'm Chan, I'm in charge of driving you around, managing your whereabouts, and translating for you if needed, stuff like that." He trails off sheepishly looking at Woojin, eyes darting around the manager's face. Chan seemed very nervous, it wasn't necessarily bad, actually quite comforting to know that the man in front of him was just as spooked as he was. He was clearly young probably around the same age at the baseball players, so there was no way he was an extremely prominent person in his company, he lacked the professionalism and coldness that Jisung hated ever so much.
Jisung figured he would get along with Chan.
Woojin seems amazed by the situation, not expecting the level of care that the Los Angeles Angels put into welcoming the teams from Korea.
Chan simply ushers them into the shuttle helping them with their bags and doing a cute little waddle to the divers seat. Jisung was curious who put this absolute child in a position of even a small amount of power, he couldn't help but giggle at his antics.
Woojin, who was sitting in the passenger seat, seemed to be thinking the same thing, "So how did you get this job?"
The standard for speaking Korean in this car made Jisung almost forget he was in the United States, instead of driving to an ordinary away game in his home country.
Chan was trying to pull into the lane beside him and only could laugh nervously, "Well, I moved here from Australia for college, and I'm studying sports management so," he laughs, "For some reason they picked me to be an intern at LAA for the summer," he pauses, turning around again to search for a gap between the moving cars wide enough for him to pull into.
Jisung confusedly looks to Seungmin beside him, whispering discreetly to the boy, "The hell is LAA ?"
The dandy boy continues to watch Chan as he answers, "I think it stands for the Los Angeles Angels."
Jisung lets out a quiet ah of understanding, nodding his head while Changbin starts to snore lightly from the other side of him. He snickers at the older boy's position, head tilted back, mouth wide open.
Chan finally pulls into the lane, focusing on the road as he continues, "They probably picked me for this job because I speak Korean," he pauses changing lanes, "plus they tend go give the interns the less desirable jobs," Jisung watches his face contort into one of worry through the rear view mirror as he realizes what he said, "No-not that I don't want to be with you guys," he is looking in between the mirror at the boy's in the back and Woojin, nervously trying to correct himself, "It's just because I'm basically your chauffeur, I gotta take you to all your meals and I'll get home really really late, you know." He tries to smile but it comes out as more of a grimace.
Woojin finds the boy, hilarious, laughing brightly, Jisung would agree it was quite funny, but not that funny.
He would talk to his manager about that later.
Woojin tries to calm the squirming boy's nerves, "I get what you're saying, don't worry, I wouldn't want to be responsible for these idiots if I wasn't getting paid either." He adds another chuckle at the end.
Chan smiles sheepishly, "I really am sorry, I'm not spectacular at expressing what I'm trying to say in Korean."
Woojin playfully hits the younger's arm, "Hey, you're doing a great job, you're amazing."
Seungmin nudges Jisung, giving him a look clearly saying he had caught on to the same situation forming between this intern and their boss. Jisung laughs quietly, as to not draw attention.
Seungmin silently mouths a "you're amazing" imitating Woojin with his big starstruck eyes and bringing his hands to his cheeks feigning an awed look.
Jisung struggles to keep his laughter quiet, hitting his friend's shoulder, "Only Woojin would fall in love with someone in another country," Seungmin whispers deviously, secretly bad mouthing his older friend.
Jisung giggles like a little kid, "What a sap."
—
Jisung wakes up to loud noises, he must have been asleep for more than half an hour. The car was moving terribly slow, presumably from traffic, the sleepy boy was still coming to when he discerned the sounds from all the shouting, it was definitely the sound of flashing cameras. Jisung finally picks his head up off of Seungmin's shoulder to see what was going on.
He first looks to Chan, who's face has drawn into a frown trying to navigate theough the people surrounding the car, "This usually doesn't happen."
That's when Jisung realizes the hold up is not because of traffic, but because of the copious amounts of paparazzi surrounding their car.
Now, Chan is right, this usually does not happen, baseball isn't the kind of thing that gets a lot of media attention. But when the program was announced, it caused a huge stir in the sports community. Some were against it, some were excited, but good or bad, headlines were headlines, and the paparazzi were going to be all over it.
Of course none of the boys were expecting it, Chan wasn't, maybe Woojin was but either way it was first for all of them.
Chan has a deep set frown, trying to figure out how to navigate and were to park with the least possible issues. When he shifts into park he turns to look at the boy's in the back, "Okay, you guys ready for this?"
Changbin was still blinking awake trying to figure out where they were, squinting his eyes at the hotel and the reporters. Jisung nods his head even though he's undeniably nervous.
Chan smiles reassuringly, "Try to keep your head down, they're going to be asking a lot of questions, probably in English, so just try to get into the hotel as fast as possible."
Jisung must have a terribly nervous look on his face because Chan laughs lightly, "Welcome to Hollywood."
—
Jisung felt sad when Chan left.
He made him feel at home, (despite the reporters and cameras) but as soon as him and his team were alone with their luggage in a fancy American hotel lobby, he soon realized they were a long way from home.
Even just standing in the check in line, the hotel was nothing short of grandeur and modern, giant chandeliers and a grand piano decorating the area. And maybe if you squinted you could see a god damn koi pond around the corner, a royalty that Jisung was sure was very unnecessary in a hotel, but he was sure it would be nice to visit once or twice.
Han Jisung was stuck watching the luggage, waiting in line with Woojin to hopefully get to the room as soon as possible, jet lag was starting to kick in.
Seungmin and Changbin were screwing around on the piano, laughing and having fun, much to the lonely boy's dismay.
Changbin was fairly new to the Twins, traded from the Kiwoom Heroes, a pretty prestigious KBO team. He's an incredible batter and 3rd baseman, he was a little late to the game in comparison to others, but proved that he deserved to be there everyday. Guys who had been playing little league since they were four were sometimes shown up by the Changbin, he was no joke, especially with those biceps.
Not that Jisung was looking or anything, he just had a strong arm.
The problem the boy was facing however, was that he couldn't seem to click with him.
Seungmin and Changbin seemed to hit it off immediately. If you didn't really know them, it might have seemed like they hated each other. Seungmin was either the most loving friend you had or the most scary friend you had, there was no in between. His emotions ranged from a lovely cuddle to threatening a violent altercation with a deadly glare.
But as much as the two seemed to clash, they were building off each other, teasing each other as much as possible with the back and forth they had made for themselves.
They were friends, and Jisung just couldn't seem to find that in Changbin.
He couldn't wrap his head around him, something about him just didn't mix with him. He always seemed tired or angry, and always intimidating.
He was older, and better and new.
Jisung loved making friends, but it was so hard to make himself likable to Changbin and it simply bothered him.
So yes, maybe being on luggage duty while his teammates had fun was a bit of a bummer.
Woojin wasn't much help either, the Doosan Bears team manager, a much older guy than Woojin, had found him not too long ago and they hadn't stopped talking since. From the snippets he heard he could tell that the two had to know each other well, very contradicting of the way the baseball players of each team conduct themselves when they're even close to each other.
They weren't fond of each other.
Jisung was mildly aware of the fact that that meant Lee Know and his team were somewhere walking around the same hotel. But he simply chose to ignore it, because it did not effect him, right ?
Soon Jisung was at the front of the line, and Woojin had taken a break from catching up with his friend to tell Jisung he was the one who had to request the room keys. The way Woojin had put it was, you speak English for him, you get to room with him. Even the manager knew rooming with him was often times better than rooming with crackhead one and two Seungmin and Changbin.
The choice was simple.
Jisung was fairly proud of his ability to speak English, he had picked up a bit when he had studied in Malaysia, but as any language learner knows, it's still fucking scary when you're attempting conversation with a native speaker.
When the receptionist called the "next in line" Jisung assumed it was his turn. Woojin still followed him, which only made him more nervous, he tried to act confident when he was walking to the desk, head held high.
That's when he saw them.
More specifically him.
I mean it would make sense he would see them, walking in their little group, looking effortlessly badass, annoyingly so.
Jisung had lost all confidence he previously had by the time he had met eyes with Lee Know (it bothered him, he still didn't know his real name, this was something he was going to search tonight while he couldn't sleep).
The unnervingly hot man was smirking an evil smile, he obviously was not one to forget things so quickly, much to the squirrelly boy's dismay.
Jisung was watching them from across the room when the receptionist spoke up, "Hello? May I help you?"
Jisung quickly turned his head to the woman in front of him, a petite blonde girl, before flicking his head in Woojin's direction embarrassedly, looking at his managers raised eyebrows, "Ah, yes," he turns his head quickly back in the right direction, "Uh, we need to, uhm, rooms, please."
The girl smiles kindly, "What name would the rooms be under?" She was clearly very forgiving and understanding of the situation.
Jisung in the state he was in had basically forgot all of his English in the span of two seconds. However, he was doing this for some peaceful sleep, this was not promised if he roomed with his other teammates, "Uh, Kim Woojin, or uh, last name Kim."
His boss cutely raises his hand, smiling widely, adding a tiny "Me.", to the end before he moves to take out his ID.
The woman looks like she has fallen in love with him with that, and quite frankly, who wouldn't, "Of course," she pauses as she types in the name, starting to idly talking to Jisung, "There sure are a lot of baseball teams here today."
Jisung turns to find the Doosan bears messing around on a couch across the lobby, Lee Know laughing at something another teammate did. He looks over to Jisung as well, smiling still, joy written on his face. He wasn't sure but it almost seemed like he was smiling kindly at him, a form of a truce, but he was sure he was seeing things.
Jisung turned back to the receptionist who was placing the key cards onto the desk for him, "There sure are."
—