"Why me? Why do I have to do it?"

He's dragged by Suji as she runs them over to the room the school kept the costumes in for the musicals. It had been left open for the drama kids to clean up now that  the One Act performances were over.

"You wrote the song, remember?" She dives into a pile of accessories and starts pulling out animal masks, holding some up. The boy shakes his head at a fox, a pig, and a cow before walking to stand beside her.

"But...there's so many people. I can't do it." He feels the rush of adrenaline suddenly and his hands tremble just thinking about it - the people staring at him on stage, in a spotlight, ready to judge his failure. He feels the beginnings of a panic attack.

"Yes you can; You have to. Minho's sick and you're the only other person who knows the song. You'll be fine." Suji sternly reminds him, searching for any more masks in the mess. The drama kids weren't doing their job by cleaning up, obviously.

"If Minho's sick then maybe this wasn't meant to be. Maybe you weren't supposed to sing today. I-It's destiny! The lights are going to fall or something when you're supposed to go on stage. It could be dangero - oh cool, Batman."

He cuts himself off when Suji reveals a tattered Batman mask in a pile of sequin fabric, but it's too big to fit his head, so he abandons it as she continues. 

"Oppa! Everything will be fine, alright? You just have to sing the words, no one will even know who you are - you don't even need to sound good - and we won't put your name in the program. It'll be fine." Suji grabs his face and he snaps to attention from his worrying, swallowing heavily. She releases him and he takes a deep breath, slowly nodding his head.

"O-Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah."

"Good," Suji nods her head and then pulls something from her back pocket, "None of these are working. You can just wear this."

She hands him a small fabric face mask. He retracts from it, "You had that with you the whole time?"

"Minho's sick." She reminds him.

"It has his sick germs on it?!" He gasps and Suji rolls her eyes.

"No, I wear it so I don't get sick." 

"Then you've been wearing it! No!"

"Oppa! Do you want a mask or not?"

He stops and pouts, lowering his head as his adrenaline spikes again from the thought of the audience hearing him sing - especially knowing it's him, "Yes."

"Then use it." She holds it out for him and he stares at it. Slowly his hand goes up to take it from her and he pulls it on over his ears. It wasn't tight fitting or anything, so when he breathes out the warm air flows into his eyes and he tries to adjust it before settling it on.

"Will people still recognize me by my hair or clothes?" He asks, because the show was starting in ten minutes and they were the seventh act. Suji purses her lips and looks around them before snapping her fingers. She finds him a pair of skinny jeans and a colorful jacket to use from one of the clothing racks and hands them to him.

"Put them on." She urges and he looks at them nervously. He's never tried to wear something quite like this before.

"Oh...alright." His voice is a bit muffled by the fabric.

He leaves to find a bathroom and comes back a few minutes later. The MCs are heard hyping the crowd out on stage and Suji knows she needs to hurry. He's three times hotter with the clothes on and she's pleased, but grabs him to find the dressing rooms.

"Whoa, what's a guy doing here?" Taeyeon complains, holding her dress against her body in shock and a few of the other girls getting ready stare. Suji rolls her eyes.

"He's gay." She says and he makes a small noise of objection from her statement, being forced into a chair and pushed against the counter running along the walls. He's situated in front of a mirror lined with lights and she pulls out her makeup bag, turning to look at the others, "Girls, I need some help over here."

Amber makes an excited sound and stands up, spinning her snap back around to get to business. They turn him around in his chair so he faces them and Suji gets out her hair products as well while Amber pulls out some eye liner.

"Wha-"

"Shh, don't speak, Oppa." Suji orders and he shuts his mouth tightly, closing his eyes when the makeup is being applied, "We're going to make you indescribable."

He's not exactly sure why he was chosen to be a judge. He went to all the rehearsals and helped some of the people backstage, but mostly because some girls asked him to view their auditions and to help out since he's been in the musicals before, so he can see where they thought his track record was hip enough for him to qualify. But, he was nothing like the other judges chosen, which were all staff members - older, mid-fourties kind of people, and mainly history teachers, except for the sociology teacher - but he suspects it's because the people who arranged the talent show were in love with him.

Turns out a lot of people were, and he probably should be more aware of this, but he really doesn't have that much time to pay attention to everyone in the school when he's a little busy trying to figure out how to solve a compound interest equation - or what in God's name he wants to do as an adult. Sometimes it's not good to have a lot of time on your hands, and for all those people he hasn't paid attention to, sometimes it can end up being creepy as well.

Of course, he was flattered when the three co-leaders of their school's event committee invited him to judge with the others, but he did happen to catch that they were three girls, and all smiling really widely, but maybe they just wanted to be nice.

And maybe they wanted to trick him or something but he sorta doubts it. 

His judging paper so far was mediocre at best from experience. First off whoever designed it had no intention of anyone being able to figure out how to use it. He's also trying his best to judge fairly but he also wants to give everyone gold stars and all the points - even that one magic show that lasted ten minutes just to figure out which card the person had. But, hey, at least they tried!

He erases his six and makes it a sad three after debating with himself, carefully eyeing the two strangers sitting on either side of him. They probably think he's a horrible person - hopefully they aren't the parents of the people performing or he's gonna get it from someone. For some reason they wanted the judges to be spaced out, so here he was surrounded by parents and a few old grandmas trying to figure out why their cameras were black when the cap was still on the lens.

Chanyeol lowers his head a bit more as the martial arts act ends. The girl dropped the pole a few times but kept it going, so he scratches her out a five for style or whatever he was actually judging them on - He's still not completely sure. The MC comes out on stage and gives a warm welcome to a group of girls who sport a colorful guitar and sing a duet of a popular song. The brunette was a bit flat in their harmony, but it was still a good setup, so he gives them a seven because he can appreciate anyone who plays guitar.

The next person is Taeyeon. She's in his English Literature class so he's already hyped because so far everyone's been some younger years and he needs a familiar face. A girl a few rows down turns around and snaps a picture of him, which he barely catches in time to make a V sign by his eyes. She giggles and shows the friend next to her until a man sitting nearby tells her to turn her phone off.

The song is clear and beautiful and the audience is a mess when it's over with cheering and applause. Chanyeol smiles and puts down a nine (there's always room for improvement) because it was the best one so far.

The next group concerns him, though, because Bae Suji was the only name listed, but already two people were coming on stage. All assistants and partners were supposed to be named on his sheet, but maybe he was crew? He couldn't be though because crew was supposed to wear all black, and Chanyeol doesn't remember a rule on wearing masks, plus the boy wasn't doing anything but standing in front of the microphone set up besides Suji's, looking nervous with the way he's tugging on the sleeves of his jacket.

"I dedicate this song to my boyfriend Minho. Get better soon!" Suji announces into the microphone and a few older couples aw. The guy next to her nods his head and produces a shaky thumbs up in agreement.

The music starts through the speakers and he visible flinches on stage from the sound of it. He backs off slightly to clear his throat to himself and the intro breaks off long enough for him to come back up to the microphone. Chanyeol doubts the sound that will come out from the mask, and he's curious to see if he'll just be beat-boxing or harmonizing quietly, but then he's shocked when such a beautiful voice is produced from the speakers. It's warm - slightly raspy - and Chanyeol is helpless as he feels himself swell inside suddenly at the sound of it.

"You are beautiful just as you were yesterday - no, you're more beautiful than you were yesterday. When I say something like this you always change subjects, pretending you didn't hear anything."

If this mystery man was singing, then he must be in the program somewhere. Chanyeol stops his judging to find the small green folded paper to scan though the names, but he's very sure that the guy up there isn't Minho like it's stated, so who was he? He lets the paper drop and he stares at the boy as Suji sings, but he's not really listening anymore. They reach some chorus line about sweet dreams they've had and such, but Chanyeol's so transfixed on the soothing melody of this one man's that he can't focus on anything but. He just wants to see this man's face, touch his throat or something to feel the vibrations - , he's whipped.

The sweet jazz of the music leads them on as they sing about being a cute couple and the boy looks less and less nervous as he goes on. He even moves his body with the music more, eyes flickering back and forth from the audience to an undefined point in the back.

Chanyeol's heart blooms up from that voice and he doesn't want to move as the song nears it's closing, the warm sound of the stranger melting his insides. The track playing ends and the crowd cheers even louder than before to celebrate this new discovery. Chanyeol barely manages to find his pen and scribble in a ten for their spot on his sheet, his mouth still open. He watches the mystery singer leave the stage with the blush visible around his face mask, covering his eyes shyly while Suji bows to the crowd and leads him off.

"You know, it could've been destiny for you to sing tonight instead of Minho." Suji teases and he places his hands on his cheeks, still smiling.

"Shut up."

It was really obvious, and no one was actually surprised in the end.

The contestants walk on stage for the final group song and dance before they announce the winners and Chanyeol got to get up and close with Mr. Song and his choice words on the "vulgar" dance performance given earlier. Personally he though Kai and Taemin did a good job despite the strange event where their music was played in the incorrect octave. He could hear the two contestants giggling to themselves regardless of what the teacher said.

The MC quiets the audience down and they wait in earnest as he holds up a small white envelope. The judges got to stand on stage as well and Chanyeol was staring at the mystery singer, who was trying his best to hide behind Suji and from the other prying eyes on stage.

He was a bit short, with a lithe body, and those skinny jeans didn't hide anything from his eyes, but he was beautiful. His black hair was styled back and upwards attractively even without seeing the rest of his face, and his eyes were lined with black.

Chanyeol swallows and wants to get closer, but he must stay with the other judges, so he plans on meeting up with him after to say hello and ask if maybe he wants to get coffee or something later - try to be smooth and test the homo waters a little before he gets too attached.

It's a little late for that, but who's keeping track?

The MC makes a big show of ripping the envelope open and he reads the inside.

"Suji and the man in black! What's your name?" He asks, walking over to the masked singer and putting the microphone in close. The boy's shoulders rise in alarm and he places his hands cover his mouth like it was visible before darting off the stage. A few of the contestants try to catch him before he gets too far, but he slips past them and Suji starts apologizing into the microphone, then thanks the judges.

Chanyeol panics and runs after him, following him in the long hallway behind the stage. It opens into the halls of the school, and the boy disappears around the corner and Chanyeol tries to keep up. By the time he clears the wall he can't see where he went, but probably down the next hall that connects the Performing Arts Center with the school building. He pauses for only a second before continuing, but he can't hear anyone else around and stops in the middle of the hall. Even with the silence, there's no more footsteps.

"Hello?" He calls out, but there's no response. He spins in a full circle before scowling and kicking the nearest wall in frustration, deciding to walk back empty-handed before he spots something by the doorway. Chanyeol stoops down to pick it up, holding the still-warm face mask probably thrown off by the mystery singer. It had a name on the inside tag, but it was only mildly helpful, "Suji."

yes I know suzy and minho broke up - shut up