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CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE - EXTRA CHAPTER; 'AL1'

 

(let’s hope this isn’t long, AGAIN)

(edit: nope i was damn wrong lol)

 

“Hey, I’m going for a shower, remember to walk the dog okay?” A voice calls out before the sound of a door is shut.

 

“Already on it!” Someone else calls back, putting on his jacket and shoes on, before calling over the dog. “Come on Tsuki, let’s go!” He beckons the small puppy over, attaching her to the leash. They both stop at the door and the male yells, “I’m heading out now.” 

 

“Okay! Take care Seungcheol!”

 

Seungcheol smiles to himself as he exits through the door with Tsuki and goes jogging down the stairs (Which he had to stop and wait for Tsuki to go down step by step — It was a bit adorable to watch). They finally arrive at the bottom floor, and now that Seungcheol feels tired of jogging in place at the same time Tsuki was going down the stairs, his puppy ran around in circles and jumped in her place.

 

The both of them head outside and notice that the day turned out nicer than expected, with less clouds and more blue sky showing. Suddenly, Seungcheol feels a rough tug around his wrist and sees that the puppy was quite eager to head to the town, not letting her owner think of where to go.

 

Alas, Seungcheol gave in and let Tsuki lead the way to the busy place. It was already mid-afternoon and the streets, just like in any central town, were either loud or busy or both.

 

Plus, the walk to the town was a good fifteen minutes on foot, however it was still good exercise for the both of them.

 

Like usual, Seungcheol has to stop a couple of times for Tsuki to meet new friends, or just catch up with the people he would usually see walking their dogs during the busy time and going by the mistake of passing by the playground where the kids would all scream and jump and run once their young eyes see a glimpse of a dog.

 

Of course, they would ask the generic questions like ‘Is it a girl or boy?’ ‘How old is she?’ (And one kid would always be like ‘We have the same birthday/name!’) ‘What’s her name?’ ‘Can I pet her?’ ‘Can she do any tricks?’ ‘Can she eat chocolate?’

 

Therefore, with his amateur Japanese, Seungcheol has to answer all of the kid’s questions — And also learn new words when he gets something wrong (Which the children heavily pick out).

 

Fortunately, he left with some excuse he thought up in his head (And even more surprisingly, the kids believed it) then left as soon as possible with Tsuki. 

 

Although… Tsuki managed to stay in control by pulling Seungcheol into the streets of town and have him go through the trouble of passing by many people.

 

“Argh, where are you going- Sorry!” He quickly changes language as he was a hair-widths of bumping into a train of people minding their own business. Living in Japan was hard — More like, really hectic. 

 

Something always went on everyday, but even though Seungcheol was a bit exhausted with having to deal with these things everyday, he was interest of what went on (Just exclude the business and loudness).

 

“Damn Tsuki where are you actually taking me-“ The male suddenly stops once his eyes are caught onto something, and the same time Tsuki stops jumping around. His dog was sure smart for a dog.

 

A small gasp escapes from his lips, which turns into a warm smile afterwards. Flashbacks start flashing in his head, clicking like the shuttering sound on a camera. Everything was there — The speakers, the set up, the four people and more importantly, the instruments.

 

Two electric guitars, a bass, a drum, and a microphone stand.

 

The memories get to him quickly — And after watching them for a while — Seungcheol soon starts picturing himself in there, which makes him reimagine the scene. The sounds seem so familiar and it only makes the male smile more.

 

He remembers those days, the days when Al1 would work their asses off trying to get money by busking off the street. Al1 was just lucky enough to gain popularity and start performing at gigs and in clubs even though the weren’t technically allowed to go, yet that was the thrill of it.

 

Looking at the set up for a while, he notices a keyboard put to the side and unplugged — Seungcheol tilts his head and nods his head a bit. ‘Huh, a keyboard… It would’ve been cool if we had a keyboard player in Al1…’ He thinks, wondering how different Al1 would be with five members (And an extra member Seungcheol has to live with — Adding onto the mess which is Junhui, Soonyoung and Mingyu).

 

It didn’t even feel like an hour of watching them play — But in reality it was actually two hours. Weird, was this what people felt like when they watched Al1? It was even more weird watching a band play rather than playing in the band.

 

Sooner or later, the band starts packing up once it gets late and less people approach the town. Seungcheol stays and watches them put their things back while he searches through his pocket for some money so he can show his support to the band. He gets up and tugs on Tsuki’s leash to follow him, approaching the band.

 

“Hey, do you need some help?” Seungcheol calls out and the members look over to him confused, but quite relieved. He wasn’t doing it for the nostalgia, but moreover he knows how it feels to carry a drum kit to a van with one person — Which wasn’t the best scenario.

 

Just as he said, he helps the members put back everything in their van and also teach them some things to help them pack up quicker (From experience) while striking up small conversations with them. Most of the time, they would speak fast and Seungcheol just had to awkwardly nod to what they just said, not knowing a single word come from their mouths.

 

What he did learn was that they were a high school band with nothing else better to do and like to mess around a lot. It rang a very familiar bell to him, causing him to laugh. Once he realised that one of them was Korean, his world felt at peace that he could talk in his native language.

 

“So how long have you been together?” Seungcheol asks, fixing the cable.

 

“Well… We knew each other since middle school, but we didn’t start the band until the summer holidays. It was a long story.” The younger smiles. “You sure know a lot of things about packing up, were you in a band too?”

 

Seungcheol nods, gulping a bit. “But then I had to move here for college. I didn’t want to leave the guys, but life has to go on.” He then shrugs, putting a hand on the high schooler’s shoulder. “You should remember to do everything you can with your members — Be reckless until the end — That’s the fun of everything.”

 

“Wow, you talk like an old man… Jokes, well I hope I can do everything with these guys, I-“ He gets interrupted by a crash from the hi-hat and a bunch of yelling after. The male’s soon speaks back into Japanese and Seungcheol makes out that he’s saying, “You two! Stop arguing over a drum piece and hurry up! Guys!”

 

The older looks over to the arguing pair in the distance, ignoring the high schooler’s command. And just by looking at them, Seungcheol found out who’s the ‘cat and dog’ of the group.

 

More like, the ‘Junhui and Mingyu’ of the group.

 

“Ah,” The boy turns to Seungcheol, “Thanks for your help, it was nice of you… But I think these guys should put back what they set up, right?”

 

Seungcheol laughs in return. “It was nothing. You think like me when I was younger… Anyway, high wishes for you and your band!” He then walks off with Tsuki, still hearing the two males arguing over the drum kit (With the addition of their other member laughing hysterically).

 

Deeply, he inhales and breath and exhales it the same way he inhaled it. They walked past a now-quiet park and the male allowed his dog to play with the dead leaves as he takes a seat and looks over the lake. It was good to take in some air, so he proceeds to put on his headphones. 

 

Seungcheol’s attention was soon caught by two males on the other side of the lake walking together and laughing loudly (Loud enough for Seungcheol to hear it while wearing his headphones).

 

Taking a closer look at them, he realises it was the two members in the band he saw half an hour ago — The two members that were arguing about a hi-hat and making a big deal about it.

 

’Huh, I guess they’re close...‘ Seungcheol thought. He didn’t think the pair were close with each other after seeing them shout at each other, but here they were laughing like there was no tomorrow.

 

Maybe it was because of his experiences in Al1, after all, Junhui and Mingyu weren’t familiarly close with each other.

 

“I wonder what Al1 would be like if they were friends...” Quietly, Seungcheol whispers under his breath and releases a soft chuckle, “Man, that would be boring.”

 

He smiles to himself and looks at the rosy and light blue sky before he closes his eyes, recalling a familiar memory.

 

—♩—♪—♫—♬ —

 

“Are you listening to me?! I know you understand what I’m saying, so stop looking oblivious to what I’m ing saying!”

 

Overlapping yells come from the practice room, and Seungcheol can’t do anything but watch the mess that’s in front of him. Maybe it was because he was a second year that he didn’t know what went on between with Junhui and Mingyu, or that Seungcheol chose Junhui as the bassist instead of Mingyu only because Mingyu knew how to play the drums and they needed a drummer. Either way, none of those options seemed good to him.

 

Honestly, he had no idea why Mingyu and Junhui would fight all of the time, and that he didn’t like seeing Soonyoung trying his best to stop everything, but ends up getting in the way of things… Being the leader, Seungcheol’s job was to settle them calmly and deal with them in his own time.

 

This time was different.

 

Although his expressions seemed calm and tame, he didn’t like to see the people he’s helped grow up to end up in this cycle of arguing over and over again.

 

“I am! But you’re the one who isn’t listening to me! I’m just saying that if we do this part in a different way, it would sound better-“

 

“Who cares about that? Seungcheol works his to make this score for you, but all you seem to do is complain!” Mingyu spits. “Is that all you ing do?” At this point, Seungcheol would tell Mingyu to not swear, but at the same time, Mingyu didn’t give a about what Seungcheol thought — All he was focused on was his argument and Junhui’s.

 

“Can’t I voice out my opinion? You say that, and Seungcheol hyung makes an effort to come and plan practice meetings and you decide to not being your ty here because you probably don’t even care! So why are you telling me off?”

 

“Because you complain all the damn, ing time! It’s annoying, and we don’t get anywhere with practice.”

 

“Oh I’m sorry I can’t keep my mouth shut, but you can’t keep yours shut either. You always seem to make a big deal from it during practice — What, you’re already an , do you want to be a dramatic now?!”

 

“Argh, Jun you’re going off topic!”

 

“Says the one who started it.”

 

“How the did I start this?! If anything, you’re the one who opened your stupid mouth-“

 

“Well this wouldn’t have started if you keep going off track when you play! Not every performance is your excuse to ing think it’s a solo!” Junhui then laughs sarcastically, his teeth. “It’s like what you said right? ‘Seungcheol works his to make this score for you’, so play it how it’s written! We don’t need another ing spotlight on you!”

 

“Shut the up! Bull, you should be glad Seungcheol put you into this group! You don’t even deserve to be here!”

 

“I could say the same about you — You don’t even call him respectfully! Or anyone at all! All I see is a cocky and ignorant !” Junhui then goes off to say something in his native language, followed by a scoff.

 

“Do you care to say that to me in Korean? You bastard!” Mingyu takes the first move by throwing his drumsticks somewhere and roughly pushing Junhui to the floor.

 

“You piece of !” Junhui screams, fighting back.

 

Soonyoung gasps, trying to pry off Mingyu from Junhui, telling the younger to stop hurting him. That only ends up with Soonyoung accidentally get hit on the face by Mingyu’s hand aiming for Junhui, leaving a mark on his face.

 

Junhui and Mingyu weren’t any good either, the both of them ended up with bruises and bloody lips pretty quickly. Not wanting to watch them any longer, Seungcheol rushes to help Soonyoung and look at his cheek — Putting his safety first before dealing with the fighting males.

 

“Go to the nurse okay? I don’t want you to get another mark on your face. It’s safe there, I’ll deal with Mingyu and Junhui.” Soonyoung looks at Seungcheol with lost eyes and the latter’s expression turns demanding. “Now, Soonyoung.”

 

Quickly, Soonyoung runs out of the room and the older lets out a sigh of relief — At least he’s safe. Sometimes Seungcheol favoured Soonyoung more because he was the one who didn’t want Junhui and Mingyu to fight all of the time, but each of them had their own charms which makes Seungcheol think that they aren’t as bad as people think they are.

 

Nevertheless, the eldest walks over to the duo and grabs Mingyu by his collar, pulling him away from Junhui just so things don’t get worse. The younger tries to fight back, attempting to run to Junhui so he could pin him down a second time.

 

Junhui gets up and wipes his bloody lip, then uses his same hand to hit Mingyu on the face, like what he did to him. The taller tries to approach Junhui again, which results in Junhui fallen back on the floor. Obviously, Seungcheol shouts at the male in pure anger, telling them to stop acting childish.

 

Pants and heavy breaths are heard in the room, with intense stares turned to surprised ones directed at Seungcheol. Soon, the fighting males look back at each other then watch red bruises form on the opposite’s face. Mingyu’s breath hitches and he throws a bunch of music sheets on the floor, exiting from the room as fast as he could.

 

“Min-“ Seungcheol exclaims, but the sound of the door slamming interrupts him and he knows for certain that this never happened. 

 

Before he could run after Mingyu and deal with him, Seungcheol turns over to Junhui and crawls over to look at his face. Gently, he places his hands on Junhui’s cheeks to check the bruises, looking at them from left to right and softly, he tuts and heavily sighs upon looking at them — Mingyu had some good hits on him.

 

“Good lord, Junhui… Be happy you haven’t broken your handsome face yet…” Seungcheol tries to joke around to get Junhui to smile, but it doesn’t work like it normally does. A firm like appears on the older’s face. “Junhui… Please try and be careful next time — Go to the nurse and Soonyoung. That’s an order.”

 

Sungcheol quickly hugs the boy and gets up from the floor, fixing his messy uniform and looking at his watch for the time.

 

Huffing, he looks back at Junhui. “I’ll deal with you later.” And Seungcheol walks over to the door, looking through the glass, mumbling, “Gee… Who knows where Mingyu is-“

 

“He’ll be at the fountain, Hyung…” Junhui speaks up, turned away from the older, curled in a ball — His voice was meek and slow-paced. “Uh, he normally goes there… When he wants to be by himself… I’ve noticed…”

 

The older’s eyes widen at his comment, speechless. Without saying a thing, he leaves the room in hopes to find Mingyu — Hopefully. From getting told off for running in the halls (Which was bull, there was no one in the hallway except for him and the stupid teacher who told him off) to almost getting run over from not seeing the light turn green.

 

Stupid, stupid Seungcheol…

 

After a couple minutes of running, Seungcheol eventually got to the fountain Junhui was talking about (“I should’ve asked Junhui where he was talking about… Would’ve saved me a lot of time…”) and thankfully saw Mingyu sat on the steps to the fountain, alone.

 

Carefully, Seungcheol approaches the younger — Attempting to not look obvious — But accidentally steps on a twig. Mingyu didn’t bother to look.

 

For a while, he stood behind the younger looking at him. Nothing else, just looking at him. The obvious things was that his bruises were as bad as Junhui’s, judging by the empty bottle clenched in his hand he bought a drink — But what took him a while for him to notice, was the quiet sniffing coming from Mingyu.

 

‘He’s… Crying?’

 

Seungcheol takes a seat next to Mingyu — Again, carefully — And doesn’t look at him, but at the fountain in front of them instead. He knew that Mingyu didn’t like anyone seeing him crying, so Seungcheol kept it that way.

 

“You okay Mingyu?” He asks, rubbing the younger’s shoulder with his hand.

 

Mingyu sniffs, faced down to hide his face. “Seungcheol… Hyung,” He pauses to gulp the nervousness, “I… I dunno.”

 

“What happened today?”

 

“…… A student was forcing another kid to hand over their bike and belongings… I told him to stop but he was up in my face and threatened me to do something about it… So I punched a couple of times and he ing ran and told the teacher-“

 

“Hey, language-“

 

“Hyung I don’t ing care!” He pants, taking out all his rage again.

 

“Mingyu… I know you’re mad,” Seungcheol shuffles closer to Mingyu, “And I know how it feels — If anyone did that to you or the others, they’d be dead in no time — I wouldn’t care less if I got suspended.” Receiving the signal when Mingyu looks up, Seungcheol finally turns to look at him. “But I need you to realise that you don’t need to take your anger out on Junhui, or Soonyoung, or anyone.”

 

“… I’m sorry hyung-“

 

“‘Sorry’ won’t cut it Mingyu. Besides, I’m not the one you should be saying it to. Junhui needs an apology from you, and so does Soonyoung — His face didn’t look so good.” Seungcheol tilts his head up to the sky and leans on Mingyu. “All I’m telling you is you shouldn’t fight angry, and you’re not going to go anywhere if you keep facing your problems like this.”

 

Still in silence, Mingyu continues listening to Seungcheol. His mind is blank.

 

“And I know the situation you’re going through right now… Your face even tells me it. Please Mingyu, it’ll be hard but just… Stick with it for now. Harsh, but, you have to take what you can get, right?”

 

For some reason, the words stick by Mingyu, yet he never says it or mentions it to the older. The only thing he can do is sit in silence to wait what Seungcheol had to say.

 

What he didn’t know was Seungcheol had zero clue either. The male overthought his words, thinking of how stupid they sound once formed together — He just wanted the best for Mingyu, but his best wasn’t good enough for himself to be satisfied.

 

“Speaking of which, what have you done to that poor Jeon boy again…?” Seungcheol sighs, sitting up straight to rub his head. Stressed, he sighs, “Garlic, glue, shampoo and in the boy’s showers after gym? Christ Mingyu, you really are trouble…”

 

Mingyu snickers, a good sign for Seungcheol, which turns into a quiet laugh. “What? It was funny! You should’ve seen his face, he looked like he was going to kill me!”

 

“Mingyu…”

 

“What?! Hyung, you’d be laughing too if you saw him — Plus, his stupid mouth told the teacher about the test I cheated on-“

 

“Wait, you cheated on a test?!”

 

“Uh…”

 

“KIM MINGYU!”

 

—♩—♪—♫—♬ —

 

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