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They were all getting ready for the stage, but the staff at the venue were acting strange towards Keonho.
“Keonho, this is your outfit.” One of the staff said, handing him clothes on a hanger.
“Umm, why is mine a different color from all the other members?” Keonho pointed out and noticed the members had colorful outfits, and his was all black.
The staff quickly changed the topic. “Hurry up, there isn’t much time.
Keonho decided not to pry and instead got dressed. While getting dressed, the other members had already gotten on stage, so the moment he got out of the dressing room, he was ushered onto the stage. Looking back before entering the stage, he noticed his manager had a disappointed look on his face.
As he rushed on stage, he got into position, and he didn’t even have a moment to stop and take a breath. The music immediately started playing, sound filling the stadium. He usually loved performing, but right now he could feel himself growing more and more upset. He looked out of place next to the members, and they seemed to notice it as well. Also, while he was singing, his voice wasn’t as prominent as the other members’. Had they lowered his mic?
“Martin hyung, I think they lowered the sound of my mic.” Keonho said during a break between songs.
“I think so too; I haven’t been able to hear you singing clearly.” Martin said with a frown on his face.
“Ah seriously, I don’t know what to do,” Keonho said in a frustrated tone.
Martin thought for a good minute before speaking, “Let’s just push through for now, okay? I’ll confront the staff members and tell our manager after.”
It took everything in his power for Keonho to just nod. He hated underperforming, even though he technically wasn’t. What if the fans thought he wasn’t trying his best? Due to thoughts filling his mind, he messed up the footwork of the dance. James quickly noticed that the younger member was feeling troubled. The moment the performance ended, Keonho rushed off to the back of the stage, where fans couldn’t see him.
“Keonho-ah, what’s going on?” James followed quickly behind, grabbing his wrist gently.
Keonho didn’t turn around; tears had started streaming down his face at this point, and he felt embarrassed.
“Hey, face me.” James said, slightly tugging at Keonho’s wrist.
“James hyung…” Keonho said, turning around. His cheeks were stained with tears, and he immediately hugged James.
James' heart broke seeing the tears on Keonho’s face. “Keonho, what’s wrong? Please tell me.” He slowly wrapped his arms around Keonho, trying to comfort him. The members noticed commotion and hurried over to the two boys’ side.
“They lowered the sound of my mic and gave me a different outfit…” Keonho said in between sniffles.
Martin didn’t even need to know who “they” were. He rushed towards the manager, who hadn't noticed the commotion, and told him everything that happened.
Keonho pulled back from James’ embrace slowly, wiping his tears. “I’m sorry for acting childish; I really don’t know why it upset me so much.”
James responded in a serious tone, “Don’t be silly; you had every right to be upset.”
Seonghyeon put his hand on Keonho’s lower back as he walked him to the couch and made him sit down. Keonho sat down while wiping his tears.
“Ah seriously, why didn’t you tell us earlier, Keonho?” Seonghyeon said with a frown on his face.
“There was already no time; I had to rush on stage to perform. I thought my outfit was just different, but they lowered my mic too.”
Seonghyeon’s face softened. “It’s okay to ask us for help. We’re always here for you.”
After that, all the members got into the van to head home. Apparently those staff members had been fired for all the rude things they did. Keonho felt a bit better that they were gone, but his mistakes from tonight still haunted him. He was scared to see what fans had posted online. During the car ride he was silent, simply staring out the window the whole time. He slowly drifted off, the motion of the car making him sleepy.
“Keonho… Wake up, we're here now.” Seonghyeon lightly shook Keonho.
“Mmmm, we’re here already? I swear it's been like five minutes.” Keonho said, rubbing his eyes and standing up.
Seonghyeon left the van, and Keonho followed behind. Everyone was exhausted from today's event. All the members dragged themselves up the stairs to their dorm. Upon entering, everyone got unready, wanting to get rest as soon as possible. Keonho sat on the couch deciding to open social media. Upon opening TikTok, there were several videos of him messing up during the dance. Even worse, there were videos of people claiming his singing wasn’t good enough today.
“Keonho, head to bed; it’s getting late.” Juhoon said while passing by the living room.
Keonho slowly sat up from the couch and got ready for bed, putting on his pajamas and taking out his contact lenses. He walked into him, Martin, and Seonghyeon's shared room. Noticing the other members were asleep, he settled into bed with his phone in hand. Looking through more comments, he couldn’t sleep. Eventually he put his phone down, deciding that it would be for the best not to look at the videos. He tried to close his eyes and go to sleep, but he simply couldn’t. He got up and walked over to Seonghyeon’s bed.
“Seonghyeon,” Keonho said, slightly shaking him.
“What is it…?” Seonghyeon mumbled half awake.
“I can’t sleep.”
Seonghyeon shifted slightly, making room for Keonho. Keonho slid right in next to Seonghyeon. He could feel himself growing more and more sleepy, his eyes eventually closing. With Seonghyeon next to him, his worries grew smaller.
THE NEXT MORNING
That was the best sleep of Keonho’s life. However, he heard noises the moment he began to stir awake.
“Wait, get a picture at this angle of them James!” Martin said while laughing.
He opened his eyes to see Martin, James, and Juhoon hovering over him and taking photos. He was confused at first but eventually realized what was going on. He was nice and snug in Seonghyeon’s arms.
“Well, good morning, sleepyheads!” James exclaimed with a smirk on his face.
Seonghyeon also began to stir awake, not loosening his grip on Keonho.
“Why are you guys making such a fuss while we are sleeping?” Seonghyeon said, rubbing his eyes.
Everyone burst out laughing at Seonghyeon’s response; clearly, he wasn’t awake enough to interpret the situation. As soon as he did, he turned a bright, deep shade of red and sat up.
As the laughter died down, Juhoon spoke up, “Okay, enough with the jokes; I’m seriously starving.”