[cc] why i ship jaywon

[permutative]

thoughts on jaywon 🎤

originally posted on curiouscat, in parts one two three, but i wanted to archive it as a whole. super messy but that's what being a jaywonist is like i guess.

god... where do i even start.

[warning for some tinhatting ahead, disclaimer that everything is just my opinion, etc]

jay and jungwon are both former sm trainees, and the chance that their training periods overlapped is pretty high (jungwon trained there for three years, 2015-2018, whereas jay trained there for at least a couple of months PRIOR to the release of blood, sweat, tears). so even before they join bighit (jay in April 2017, jungwon in October 2018) they already have prior history. [see this timeline for more speculation i guess: https://girlrock.dreamwidth.org/14048.html] then they trained at bighit together before the transfer to belift, and (EDIT 5/6/2021: it's confirmed that jungwon didn't go on the brunei trip. oops) of course jungwon was also included in the iconic brunei trip that heejaywon took. speaking of which—i think it’s a cute coincidence that jungwon mentioned not being able to go on school trips as a kid due to training/taekwondo and thru the brunei trip jay gave jungwon a taste of the childhood he missed??

so, right off the bat, jay and jungwon have /a lot/ of shared history—this is really unusual for enhypen, considering that they've spoken openly about how belift trainees were banned from talking to each other! it might not be as obvious/blatant as heejay’s friendship, but it’s still pretty apparent—for example jungwon mentioning that jay used to talk about the wings album all the time while they were out buying border: day one during a vlog, jungwon knowing that jay’s a one direction fan, jungwon stating that jay’s mom’s cooking is good during a vlive, the list goes on and on…

to clarify, I'm not saying that jay and jungwon were best friends predebut -- jay has made it clear that heeseung's his closest/oldest friend from those times (I'm a big 5YEARZ fan), and during his weverse interview jay literally stated that it was difficult for him and heeseung to get close to jungwon at first. let me just copy paste the whole quote, actually: "But with JUNGWON, it was more like a younger brother–older brother situation, so it was more about taking care of one another than being friends, and it was hard for me or HEESEUNG to get close to him. But as it started to feel like we might become members of the same team, I felt like JUNGWON was opening himself up to me, and I think that’s when we started to get close."

idk, the whole moment in i-land where jay says that he’d break the egg if jungwon gets eliminated just seems even more heartwarming when you consider that jay is aware of how much jungwon has sacrificed—five years as an idol trainee, ever since his fifth year of elementary school—more than anyone else due to their shared pasts. i’m so endeared by jay trying to look out and take care of jungwon. i don’t even think they were necessarily “close” at sm or anything like that but just this notion of jay seeing himself as someone who has tried to look out for jungwon [pretty big trend in predebut stories is jay treating all of his hoobaes to random shit, jay lending jungwon manwon to go home] KILLS ME. and like you still see it to this day — during jungwon’s thank you message he says “jay hyung who… took care of me not even then but all the time” LIKE!? and what makes it better that it isn’t just a one-way relationship. jay has stated in interviews that he confided in jungwon when he had issues about his place in the team, and he often praises how well-suited jungwon is to being a leader <3 the way they take care of each other in different ways is just so important to me okay!!

moving on. i love their banter, which isn’t really banter as much as it is jungwon teasing jay while jay is just like [whipped for jungwon]. WHATEVER it’s just so fun! jungwon never misses a chance to tease jay and jay is just like… he tolerates it no matter what!? also jay has mentioned on two separate occasions that he’s watched fan compilations of jungwon making fun of him (me and jay are the same, we both watch meowz videos. the taste).

i guess the most obvious thing about them is their easy physical affection with each other — i’m just going to link to my listo page of my favorite jaywon edits (https://listography.com/resentment/bookmarks/jaywon), most of them have all of the important skinship moments LOL. idk jay is just not afraid to be physically clingy to jungwon <3 it’s great <3 i feel like this is one of the parts of their dynamic that’s the most apparent so there’s no need for me to elaborate too much.

and here’s my favorite thing about them: THE CONTRASTS OF IT ALL…
> for the trainee whose charms he wanted to steal (on i-land), jungwon once said “ jay hyung. he has charisma on stage, but in real life he is cute without trying and funny without trying”—i think that summarizes a big difference between jungwon and jay. jay’s the type of person to make friends easily and approach people first, and he’s a moodmaker who makes people laugh/doesn’t mind getting made fun of. jungwon, on the other hand, is more withdrawn and isn’t the type to approach someone first while making friends.
> even though they’re both thinkers they’re completely different in how they think… jay is like [thinks to the point of overthinking every possibility, extremely curious about the world around him, likes Learning random shit] whereas jungwon is like [rational, thinks through things to solve problems]
> jay is really heart-on-sleeve in general. like he’s very open and honest about he feels, and he doesn’t hide the way he feels about the people he likes the most (his leeheeseung tenderhearting whereas heeseung is like unable to be sincere to him… YUP). jungwon, despite being depended on by so many others, doesn’t really open up as much. at the same time he has the time of personality where he isn’t really phased by jay’s emotional honesty (?!) [extreme tinhat zone] like personally i see heeseung as someone who might not be able to handle that emotional burden whereas jungwon wouldn’t mind a bit of an unbalanced dynamic. AHMMM

do you ever think about jungwon knowing all of those random facts about jay and jungwon buying jay an air fryer and jay saying “no matter what he does, he's so likable” about jungwon and jay constantly naming jungwon as the cutest person in enhypen and LOSE YOUR MIND? or is that just me.

TLDR: yes, i like jaywon dynamix.

sorry for the random heejay comments that slipped in too, i think heeseung is super close to both jungwon and jay so the comparisons were inevitable <3 btw i can dig up links for most sources but tbh this has most things: https://permutative.dreamwidth.org/8144.html