i do think within the idol system, there's an expectation that you won't always be the best and other people will have greater strengths than you, so i think jisung was prepared for that reality in some way hence not really being jealous, but the competitive nature of the system helped him focus in a specific way as he honed his skills. but then the flipside of being a creative genius was this like excruciating interpersonal dynamic he had with basically everyone sdklfj love his little anecdote in the jilix 2kr where he told felix he asked changbin how to talk to him because jisung didn't know where to begin.

i definitely think changbin has been an influence on jisung in all those ways, but i also think they're really different in the way they pursue things. part of jisung's arc has kind of been learning that. trying things different ways and learning what works for him, especially with self-discipline and, seemingly, his mental health.

i think a lot of my noodling relies heavily on assumption so you can disregard this but i personally love the idea that changbin "avoiding" jisung was him deciding that actually he couldn't help jisung or hold him to his standard and that created distance between them when maybe he was genuinely trying to mentor him before. but it's like SO much energy to pour into one guy when you have 6(/7) others that make the entire team. and in that time, changbin realized he wasn't really in a position to scold jisung and jisung chilled out a little more and figured out the dynamic he needed to have with others and that change kinda booted them into this fascinating space of closeness that they're navigating now 🧐