Maknae Princess || Stray Kids

13. PROUD BTS AND JISOO

Proud BTS And Jisoo

Namjoon was the first one to find out about Nabi and Stray Kids officially debuting. And GOT7's Jackson was the reason why. He was buzzing when he texted Namjoon late that night. And then Jungkook was the second person. Nabi had phoned her brother before she had phoned anyone else and practically deafened Jungkook as she shouted the good news in his ear.

The rest of BTS gradually got to know the news, too. Everyone was so proud of Nabi the little girl they'd practically helped raise. They'd video-called her in the afternoon and she told them to wait for the release of Stray Kids 'Hellevator'.

Namjoon woke up that morning and checked his phone like he did every morning. He saw a text from Jackson Wang and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Why is this guy so busy?" he muttered.

Jackson: Hey, man! Did you hear the good news about your BTS princess? Nabi and Stray Kids are debuting!

Jackson: Namjoon, are you awake?

Jackson: RM!

Jackson: RM! Rap Monster! Wow, how can you sleep at a time like this?!!!

Jackson: Just text me when you see this...

Jackson: Okay? I'll take the silence as a yes.

Namjoon's eyes widened and he quickly sat up as he watched the latest JYP survival episode on his phone. Spoiler Alert. He skipped to the end and even teared up when he saw how happy Nabi was. How after all of her hard work and the emotional difficulty she went through, she was finally getting debuted.

During breakfast, it was easy to tell that Jungkook had also found out about his sister's debut. He had a beaming smile on his face that nobody could wipe away. He was grinning from ear to ear as he rewatched the practice clips and rehearsals of Stray Kids. Jungkook wasn't even looking as he buttered his toast and put jam on it. He was too focused and blindly reached for everything to the point where Jimin had to come to the rescue before Jin's coffee short-circuited the toaster.

After that, Jimin and Taehyung quickly video-called Nabi to congratulate her. Jimin went on and on about how he'd known all along that Nabi was going to make music history. And she did, the only girl in a boy band. That was some pretty big history, especially when JYP made it clear that Stray Kids was still a boy band only with an added girl in it and not a boy band that unexpectantly turned co-ed. Taehyung, however, couldn't wait until he and Nabi got some free time to spend together. He remembered BTS's trainee days right before debuting and it was stressful as hell. He wanted to make sure his 'little sister' relaxed and didn't get too overwhelmed.

Jin didn't find out until Namjoon casually brought it up late into the day, to say he was pissed about not knowing sooner was an understatement. Immediately, Jin phoned Nabi and shouted at her until his head was whipping back and forth and he sounded like he was rapping in anger. The vein in his neck even became prominent before she said something and he instantly calmed down. Jin then proceeded to congratulate Nabi for almost ten minutes, praising her before also reminding her to always leave an impression of confidence.

J-Hope found out sometime in the middle of the day, it came up as a notification on his phone. Nabi also sent him Stray Kids' practice video. She wanted his honest opinion on the choreography but J-Hope had a hard time concentrating. His smile of happiness and pride as he watched Nabi dance, knowing that she was debuting, was the brightest and biggest thing anyone had ever seen. J-Hope was sunshine in itself and always smiled, always laughed, and was more or less always happy but this was on a whole other level.

Everyone thought Suga was the last one of them to find out. He didn't say anything and acted completely normal as he had breakfast, attended dance practice, and then secluded himself to produce more music. But actually, Suga was the third one of them to find out. After Nabi phoned Jungkook, she immediately phoned Suga. No one in BTS was surprised when they found out. Suga even smiled, he tried to hide it but it was too late and everyone was already starting to make fun of him about it. He was a softie when it came to Nabi, he had no idea why though.

But really, BTS couldn't have been happier for Nabi.

***

Stray Kids had been practicing nonstop for their very first music video, day and night. And because of this, Jisoo ended up scolding Nabi since she hadn't seen the girl in weeks. Though she did understand the pressure and excitement that was running through Nabi right about now. So Jisoo did a u-turn on scolding her and instead started to give Nabi tips on things that Jisoo herself would have liked to know before her career blew up.

Nabi pushed her hair out of her face and took in a deep breath. They were taking a quick break between practices and she was exhausted. Her phone was vibrating when she took it out of her bag, she suddenly had 6 missed calls and all from the same number.

"You... ghost me?" Jisoo asked in broken English.

Nabi was surprised and quickly denied it as best she could. "No, no, no. No, I didn't!" she ended up saying in English before switching to Korean again. It was rare for Jisoo to use English words like this, meaning she must really be mad at Nabi. Nabi shrunk in herself at the very thought. "No, unnie! I was busy with practice, I swear!"

"I haven't seen you in weeks," Jisoo complained, but her voice was softening a lot now.

"I know," Nabi sighed and sat down in the middle of the empty room. "I've been practicing nonstop for this music video. It's Stray Kids' first and official music video, unnie! You'll watch it, won't you?"

How was Jisoo supposed to carry on being mad at Nabi when she sounded so cute? She couldn't.

"Of course," Jisoo replied without missing a beat. "What do you take me for? Your first music video is going to be amazing!"

In the beginning, Jisoo was surprised and a lot confused. A girl in a boy band. It didn't make a whole lot of sense, but if Nabi was happy then so was Jisoo. Even YG himself complimented Nabi in front of his own company groups, which made Jisoo super proud of her. Nabi deserved everything she was getting. It wasn't just Jungkook who made Nabi stand out from the others but it was Nabi herself; her hard work, her own talent, her perseverance, and her kind heart.

But to be honest, Jisoo was kind of expecting Nabi to end up debuting with ITZY or some other girl group in JYP but Bang Chan had a sharp eye. He saw talent and he snatched it up before anyone could even blink, even if at the time he wasn't totally sure he could keep Nabi. Nabi had told Jisoo about the boys in her group starting with Chan and ending with Jeongin.

Jisoo could tell without even meeting Stray Kids that, this was the band that Nabi was meant to end up in. At the end of the day, it wasn't about gender, connections, or even talent. It was about timing and clicking perfectly with those around you. That's what really made a K-pop group last. It's the chemistry and the friendship that goes with it and not so much anything else.

"You promised," Nabi said. "You have to keep your promise and let me know as soon as you see the music video."

"I will," Jisoo said. "Maybe after it's released I'll actually get to see my best friend again," she joked.

"You will, we can go shopping," Nabi promised.

"Good, now let me give you some helpful advice before Stray Kids ends up overtaking BLACKPINK'S popularity," Jisoo whispered in a playful tone. Nabi could practically hear the smile on the older girl's face.

The two talked for more than an hour before Changbin and Seungmin had to literally drag Nabi back to practice. Nabi frowned when her phone was taken away from her and pouted when she had to do the entire Hellevator dance routine by herself (as a punishment).