Sehun runs fingers through his hair, ruffling it, making his styled hair look a little unruly, a little more effortlessly done. He glances down towards the press badge hanging from the lanyard around his neck and then towards the mirror, eyeing the black duffle bag behind him at the base of his bed.

It's too late to back out now; he's signed contracts and made promises.

Sehun doesn't truly hate the idea of following a famous rock band on their summer tour. He's excited. He is just equal parts overwhelmed and out of his element. Sehun is an only child. He's not used to sharing his space. Kyungsoo and him rooming together in his first year had been luck, and they were both pretty good at keeping to their own spaces and respecting each other's privacy.

He's read memoirs and interviews from other rock bands. He knows that space and privacy are foreign concepts when traveling on a small bus. Yet, if he's honest, the privacy thing is low on his worries list. Even with Kyungsoo's guiding questions, he's not sure he'll be able to do justice to this piece for Kyungsoo nor TACTIX. It's the biggest piece he's ever done, the biggest he might ever do, and he fears it might end up lackluster.

Kyungsoo knocks on his door, breaking him from his thoughts, and with a deep breath, Sehun exits his bedroom to meet his roommate. Tonight, Kyungsoo will drive them to the venue. It is a twenty-minute drive from their apartment, and they might avoid the concert traffic if they leave early enough. Tomorrow, Kyungsoo will be on a red-eye to Seoul after the concert, and Sehun will be making the solo trek to San Francisco in his '88 Civic. He'll get to spend some time with his family before the tour officially starts for him.

"I could be sitting in a giant house with AC and eating fancy rich people foods," he says.

Kyungsoo glares at him from where he's seated on the sofa, putting the last few things away in his suitcase. Their mothers would have a fit if they saw the state of their apartment, with Kyungsoo packing for an indefinite trip to Seoul and Sehun for a multi-stop, multi-state tour. It's a mess.

"Dude," Kyungsoo begins in a deadpan tone. "You're going on a multi-city tour with one of the hottest bands right now, and you want to be fighting alligators and heatstroke in hot Florida. Get your priorities straight."

"A group of dudes with questionable hygiene practices," Sehun lifts both his hands, pretending to balance his choices, "A big house with my hot girlfriend. Obviously, finals had me temporarily insane for me to agree without a fight."

They leave a little later than expected and run into more traffic than anticipated but still manage to get to their location well before the show starts. Sehun spends a good amount of time getting shots of the queue of concertgoers–filled mostly with young women–before following Kyungsoo inside to their seats.

They're seated amongst the other press badge holders, off to one side of the stage where the angle might be a bit awkward, but the photographs developed will look amazing. The camera, the most expensive thing Sehun owns, was a graduation present from his parents and his most prized possession. In high school, his love was easily split between writing and photography, and if he hadn't gotten places in his schools' newspapers, he would have been happy enough to join the photography club. This tour will allow him to indulge in both of his passions.

TACTIX is headlining the Careless Summer summer tour–the second summer dropped in official promo for stylistic reasons–with another newcomer to the scene, NeoCiTy. Compared to TACTIX, NeoCiTy's sound was much more a traditional punk-rock, louder and more experimental, according to Sehun's research.

He'd tried to keep his research to as minimum as possible, scouring a handful of magazines for very brief introductions and one poorly designed fansite. His goal wasn't just a profile on the band, but a complete introduction, guiding new and existing fans into the whole story of TACTIX from beginning to present. He wanted to come in without any assumptions or preconceived notions and write something that would make Kyungsoo proud.

Despite Sehun's own reservations, he etched a deal with Kyungsoo and the band's people for a lengthy multiple-part, multi-issue piece. Kyungsoo's zine was quarterly. Lucid Zining opened and closed the beginning and end of each semester, but with Sehun's piece, it would transition to monthly.

NeoCiTY is loud. They're flashy with bright lights and even brighter hair, but they command a stage like they aren't newcomers, and the crowd loves them. The music is catchy, in a youthful rebellious way that's in line with their contemporaries and gets the crowd excited. NeoCiTy performs for a little over an hour, with two encores and a few covers of some more popular songs.

There is a pause before TACTIX takes the stage, and Sehun can't help but wonder what they'll open with; from the little Sehun's heard, their music doesn't usually have the same fast tempo, raucous quality as NeoCiTy. He thinks it'll be interesting to see how they engage with the crowd.

The lights dim, blanketing the stage in deep darkness, and the crowd goes wild. Sehun watches the darkly outlined silhouettes move in the shadows, reconstructing the next band's stage.

After, a hush falls over the crowd; they're waiting in slightly muted anticipation with the knowledge that TACTIX will take the stage at any moment now.

Finally, drums break through the silence, and the stage is bathed in light as the band begins. Bass and lead guitar follow the drummer's cue. The frontman, Baekhyun, is not there, but that doesn't stop the crowd from erupting in cheers.

When Baekhyun finally does appear, the crowd goes even wilder. Shouts of happiness mix with loud singing and the playing band, turning the noise into an almost incomprehensible song of its own. Sehun has never been to a rock concert before. Between not being able to afford it, and his parents' thoughts on the genre, it's never been an option for him. He had no idea what to expect when he walked into the venue, but by the end of NeoCiTy's performance, the bar was set high for him. TACTIX meets and exceeds it in under a minute.

The band has a force with them, and as they cycle through song after song, Sehun feels confident in his choice to keep his research as minimum as possible.

Chanyeol, the drummer, starts off almost every song. It wouldn't take his whole hand for Sehun to count the number of drummers he knows apart from their band, but Chanyeol's charisma shines through easily enough that he could almost be a one-man show.

Chen, the bassist, is just as iconic as Chanyeol. His harmonization with Baekhyun keeps the crowd screaming. Sehun doesn't have much of an ear for music, could never tell you what a bass line, but live he can hear how Chen's strumming brings the song together. It's almost always a steady undercurrent, like his voice, a glue that they could not be without.

Baekhyun's voice is magnificent. The three of them are magnetic on their own, building a rapport with the crowd in between the songs. Sehun hadn't known what to expect with a grunge rock band, but the jokes and laughter weren't it.

It's the lead guitarist that embodies all that Sehun imagines when he thinks of rock. He's quieter than the other three. More secretive with his smiles. Yet he plays with a passion that has Sehun catching his breath, enraptured. Sehun once read that guitars were modeled in the shape of women's bodies. He thought it was utterly ridiculous at the time, but with the way, the man before him, handles his guitar, gentle but firm, fingers flying over the frets with each song, providing it with his sole attention during the seconds they break to prep for the next song. Sehun thinks he understands it, and understands why he's so popular along women.

The lead guitarist goes by the name of Kai. It's a stage name like Chen.

When the show ends, Kyungsoo and Sehun linger in their seats for a bit longer, waiting for the person escorting them backstage to make their introductions to the band. Eventually, someone dressed in all black comes out and leads them through the venue and backstage. Despite the wait, it's still buzzing with activity, and Sehun finds himself taking picture after picture. At a door that says personnel only stands one male and one female security guard. Women surround them. Sehun might be new to this, but he's heard of the culture of groupies, but unlike the tales, he's heard, it doesn't seem like any of the women are being allowed in despite how beautiful many of them are.

Their gently pushes through the ladies, leaving the pair no choice but to follow. They're allowed in without much fanfare from the guards and traverse deeper into the backstage area.

There are two dressing rooms: NeoCiTy's, which they pass, and TACTIX, which sounds more alive than the first.

The ushers them into the rowdy room, and clears his throat repeatedly until the noise settles just a bit.

"Where's Junmyeon," the man asks.

Baekhyun, standing with messy ruffled hair and a white tank top, shrugs a little.

"Haven't seen him since we went on stage."

"Think he had some phone calls to make," Taeil, the lead singer of NeoCiTy, says. He's sitting on the sofa between NeoCiTy's lead guitarist and TACTIX's drummer, the pair making him look smaller.

The gives an annoyed huff, stepping out of the room to fetch TACTIX's manager, leaving Sehun and Kyungsoo in a room filled with rockstars and their entourage.

"You guys are the ones doing the story on us?"

The question comes from Baekhyun. He's settled himself in a chair, leaning back against it with a confidence befitting a king.

Sehun, feeling like the new kid that just walked into a class on his first day, answers.

"Yeah. I'm Sehun, the reporter, and this is Kyungsoo, editor-in-chief and founder of Lucid Zining."