“I’ve got my hands on a 16mm film,” was the first thing he heard when he accepted the call.

“…oh no,” was Chanyeol’s only response to Sehun’s frantic call he accepted in Kyungsoo’s stead who had the arms full of equipment. Kyungsoo asked him soundlessly who was on the phone and Chanyeol mouthed ‘Sehun’ back. Kyungsoo just rolled his eyes, shaking his head. Chanyeol turned the speaker on. “What for?”

“Filming a of ing course!” Came Sehun’s nonchalant answer and Chanyeol almost dropped Kyungsoo’s phone.

“W–what?” Chanyeol turned beet-red in his face and Kyungsoo chuckled while setting the equipment down, leaning his arm on Chanyeol’s shoulder who was sitting on his chair.

“ing stupid idiot. Did your flat forget that I promised that the next Mighty Hepcats record gets a music video if I have a spare roll? And this I have. I’ll send Kyungsoo an email with the filming days on set and where you should see if y’all have time to come along for the filming of the movie. Also, we’re coming to Vancouver for that. From there a little more travelling in a dingy pub for the shoot and you guys. Did you forget that already?”

“He did, Sehun,” Kyungsoo finally spoke up, shaking his head but a smile was playing around his lips.

“Of course, he did…” Sehun sounded way too done with the situation. “Honestly, why would I tell you if I was filming ? Why would it sound like I would ask you of all people? Do you want to? With whom? Kyungsoo? I know you’re a desperate mess and single as a ing pringle, but man, come on,” Sehun heaved a heavy sigh on the other end of the receiver. “Nah man, you’re a handsome man, nice to look at but I don’t know if I want to see your junk. I mean, I’ve seen Kyungsoo’s already and I don’t feel good about it to this day…”

“Can you stop speaking like I’m not here, while you’re using my phone?” Kyungsoo whacked Chanyeol over his head. “And what the are you getting all flustered for? It’s not like you haven’t seen me as well. The are you giving me a once-over again like you’re seriously considering it!” Kyungsoo whacked him again. Sehun was snickering on the phone, glad he wasn’t on the receiving end of Kyungsoo wrath and gleefully giggled at Chanyeol’s whimpers of pain.

“I’m sorry, Soo,” Chanyeol bowed his head, finally giving Kyungsoo his phone back.

“And you, Sehun, just because you’re not here; postponed doesn’t mean abandoned. You’ll get your fair share as well and stop feeding Chanyeol dumb ideas. Now, back to business when we’ll you be here with your team? Gotta ask Chi and Ryker if they have time or make time in their schedule, we’re all working adults after all.”

“This is our sometimes bi-weekly, sometimes monthly, sometimes weekly, Air-Check on 89.35 FM. Sometimes it also happens to be Icing on the Cake on special occasions. Thanks for tuning in to our listeners in front of the radio and watching us on our livestream,” Kyungsoo introduced their show and Chanyeol was waving broadly at the camera in front of him. “I’m today joined by my co-host Chanyeol since we have quite some guests today. We have a smaller focus on purely Jazz today and look through songs with Jazz and Blues influences or that don’t fit into it. It is 19:38 right now and the next song will be Rhythm by Boogie Belgique.” Kyungsoo muted his microphone again and while letting the song fade in.

“This is going to be such a mess today, I’m sure about it,” Chanyeol leant back in his chair, “Hello chat! How are you doing this fine night today? They predicted the first snow for this winter today in Seattle. What about the others?” Chanyeol leant closer to the screen to read the chat. “Oh, here’s one listener from Brazil, how’s the weather? Good? Oh, nice warm weather, yeah, I miss it, fall was pretty moist-ish this year. Got sick a couple times—”

“—that’s because you ran around in shorts and a tanktop during rain and wind, you idiot,” Kyungsoo interrupted him. The worst weeks of his measly life with Chanyeol sounding and behaving like a stranded and dying whale.

“This was xxx and you’re listening to 89.35 FM. If you joined us just now, welcome, we’re in the middle of our Air-Check once again. While we usually have a thematic subject or something similar, today we’re just sitting together and talking like old friends that haven’t seen each other in some while. I am your host Chanyeol,” Chanyeol announced at the end of the musical break. “Today we’re joined by the Vancouver favourites, The Mighty Hepcats. Would you please introduce yourself again?”

“Hello, this is Ryker Armstrong, I’m playing the guitar.”

“Chiamaka Kimathi, I’m the groups' bassist.”

“Hello everyone on the radio and livestream, it is I, Kyungsoo Doh, your host and I’m playing the clarinet and Chanyeol plays the keys,” Kyungsoo continued. “And we’re also joined by another fan-favourite, Sehun Oh, who’s better known under his alias O’Sehun, filmmaker. And there is a reason he’s here with us as well as the rest of the quartet for once.”

Sehun finally took over after the obligatory introductions, “Greetings. As Kyungsoo just said and Chanyeol already teased on various social media platforms, there is a reason we’re meeting today. The first Mighty Hepcats music video is on its way to you, after strenuous editing and post-production. I cannot say when but in the near future. We’re not having a set schedule after all. The idea for a video was actually born out of the alcohol-induced state last year during an after-show party. And I have the honour to announce the next song. Please enjoy listening to something entirely else and by that, I mean no Jazz, Blues or whatsoever. The next song is by Korean group FTISLAND and is called Unthinkable and is from the latest release Lock Up. You’re listening to 89.35 FM. If you want to join this session live, please visit the livestream under www.eightninethreefive.ca and join us in the chat and to see us or talk with us in between segments, submit questions for us or drop a song request and Chanyeol and Kyungsoo see to it if it can be incorporated. Our Twitch username is also eightninethreefive.”

Chanyeol queued the next couple of songs while sipping from his coffee that Ryker brought from the kitchen for everyone, and they fell in easy conversation again.

“Also, way out of topic and a question to our listeners; I apologise, it’s very specific and very out of ordinary I assume, but anyone knowledgeable about British Baroque architecture? Ever heard the name Indi—Inigo Jones? I read it as Indigo James and not Inigo Jones,” Chanyeol pushed his lower lip over his upper lip, pulling a face of mock disgust while nodding away, listening to Kyungsoo.

“How is it possible to constantly misread a name even though you know how it’s written?” Chanyeol agreed while staring at the name again, in his peripheral view he saw the live chat moving at a moderate speed, mostly emotes from what he saw.

“Because it’s a stupid name?” Sehun’s eyebrows draw dangerously close while shrugging. “As if I have any idea about British architects that lived god-knows-when. I don’t even know which movies are being released in the near future.”

Kyungsoo snorted, his eyes on the chat as well, “Someone questions your integrity regarding your profession as a filmmaker, Sehun.”

“Well deserved,” Chanyeol agreed. Ryker sitting next to him nodded as well and Chiamaka standing in the corner behind Kyungsoo suppressed a laugh, biting down on the index knuckle of his left hand.

“Y’all ganging up on me?” Sehun raised an eyebrow.

Kyungsoo noisily slurped his by-now cold coffee.

“We?! Never!” Ryker waved him off, “We’re not mocking kids.” But he saw the scrunched-up paper hitting him straight in the face too late.

“Remind me why I’m friends with you lot? You’re unbearable.” Sehun asked, rolling his eyes. His resting face helped him look too serious in the situation as if he hadn’t thrown a paper ball at Ryker just then.

“Because you love us, end of discussion. The next song is Tidal Waves by Tom Misch featuring Yussef Dayes. You’re listening to 89.35 FM, and this is the weekly, not bi-weekly anymore, Air-Check. Thanks for tuning in.” Kyungsoo cut the discussion short before it would develop.

“I feel like punching someone in the throat!” Kyungsoo suddenly bemoaned when he turned the mics off, letting the playlist settle in. He threw his arms up, swing backwards in his swivel chair, letting out a sad cry.

“That, that is sudden. I guess. Is it?” Ryker looked way too amused and confused at the same time while analysing the situation.

“Don’t question it, I just have a sudden urge to resort to violence… It’s unbearable!” Kyungsoo raised his voice before slumping into himself again. “Does anyone of you know a misogynist, ist or a single soul that deserves to be punched to the moon and back? I’m dead serious!”

“What is with you?” Chanyeol asked, not taking his co-host serious.

“Do you know this feeling when you just want to suddenly resort to violence without any reason?” Kyungsoo asked into the round.

“No.” — “What?” — “Not that I’m aware of.” — “Yes.” Came all at once as answers, the recording program being slightly stressed.

“At least Sehun understands me,” Kyungsoo continued wallowing in self-pity. “That’s why he’s my favourite. He knows the unbearable urge and carnal instinct of hitting someone square in the face and punching them into the throat.”  Kyungsoo threw his hands up again before he got the repercussions of even daring to show favouritism.

“Can we come back to the fact that K suddenly started talking about architecture again after I thought we finished the discussion last week?” Ryker threw the paper ball back into Sehun’s direction who caught it and transferred it further into the bin.

Kyungsoo ignored them all in favour of the next song that came up, dramatically lip syncing along while dancing on his seat throughout the whole song, scrolling through the chats and requests on their website. Chiamake leaned over the backrest of his chair since he preferred standing instead of sitting the whole time as if a 9 to 5 job didn’t mean sitting 24/7. Ryker, in comparison, remained seated most of the times he met the guys because as much as he talked about his kindergarten job, he loved all the small goblins with all his heart. Even if his hate for children was sometimes frightening, but this only concerned children outside his group as well as friends’ children.

“This was the Klischée remix of Tim Freitag’s By Your Side. The next song is another remix I grew fond of, Jamie Berry’s remix of The Electric Swing Circus’ Mr Magpie.” Kyungsoo muted his microphone again, but this time he sang along aloud much to the live streams delight, while he was serenading Chanyeol if one could call it that based on the lyrics. “Oh, Mr Magpie was in it for the thrill of the chase/I saw it coming, should've raised the alarm. Girl, are you gonna be another victim of his charm? Boy, you're making waves, in the same old way. Times are changing, you're still playing the same old game.” But much to everyone’s surprise, Chanyeol croaked along to his heart’s content, he and Kyungsoo jumping up from their seats, giving a dance impromptu to everyone who lost their s in retaliation, howling and clapping along.

Chanyeol and Kyungsoo had both started swing dancing lessons independently of each other and had met during their first lesson pointing at each other like the one Spiderman meme Chanyeol had seen that one time.

After the dance session and the next couple of songs, they got back into their usual banter and regular program with the whole set-up of the Mighty Hepcats, turning it into a Q&A for the folks listening. They talked about a lot, their private lives and jobs because no one was a full-time musician; everyone had their own profession, even Kyungsoo and Chanyeol who worked on the side to being radio moderators.

“Before we’re coming to an end,” Chanyeol announced, the next shift was already in their spots and everyone had said their goodbyes while they had clocked overtime on their live program and it was already somewhere around 11 in the evening, “I’d like to show you all this great Big Band rendition of Pharrell Williams’ Happy by Lance Ellington and London Music Works, followed immediately by the live version of Cantaloupe Island by Jeff Goldblum and & The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra. Thanks for tuning in to Air-Check. Good night!”

Chanyeol heard the deep resonance of a bassline when the door fell into lock behind him. He stood in the small hallway, coat and his bag in one hand, the other still holding onto the key, and he tilted his head to the side, trying to affirm what he heard and yes, it was still there. It didn’t sound familiar but was coming from the soundproof room he used as the recording studio for their quintet, but this?

He placed the keys in the bowl next to the coat hanger and dropped his coat and bag and he shuffled slowly further inside the apartment, closer to the studio. Once he opened the door, he instantly started smiling.

Kyungsoo was dancing through the studio with a glass of wine in his hand, obviously vibing along to the music that was almost blasting through the stereo and Chanyeol knew where the slight, almost unnoticeable vibration was coming from. Chanyeol neither understood the language nor had he heard the group before, but he immediately appreciated the use of a brass section and he wasn’t sure, but he detected something reminiscing of Jazz or Blues in what he heard. Kyungsoo turned around, eyes wide and he stood still before a smile overtook his face again and he placed his glass aside, skipping over to Chanyeol before enveloping him in a bear hug. As fast as he came, he detached himself again and was back to dancing, but not before sashaying over to the glass cabinet and pulling another mug—! Chanyeol winced at the uncultured swine Kyungsoo was some days—from it to fill it with wine from his bottle and giving it Chanyeol, pulling him inside the studio at the same time, shutting the door.

They didn’t speak a word and Chanyeol dropped into his swivel chair, moving his shoulders along to whatever Kyungsoo was listening to, getting into the vibe.

Chanyeol had seen Kyungsoo dance once like that, that when he was high off his on marihuana (Kyungsoo would beg to differ, he inhaled the stuff once and was pretty fine after that) and on a reggae festival—good times… Chanyeol pulled his phone from his pocket and his camera. Kyungsoo was mostly just moving his shoulders up and down, as well as his arms that he had bent towards his torso, fingers in a loose fist close to his chest, moving his head in every possible angle towards the music. He got more live into himself when a brass section came on in the song, supporting the supporting melodies.

Kyungsoo opened his eyes and saw Chanyeol taking a video, but he just smiled good-naturedly and pulled Chanyeol up and into his arms. Chanyeol threw his arms around Kyungsoo’s shoulders, swaying them through the room while filming themselves in an adjacent mirror wall.

People might overthink it when he uploads it later, but he couldn’t care less. The only thing important at that moment was him and Kyungsoo.

Chanyeol put his phone away, properly grabbing for Kyungsoo’s hand, the other placed on his shoulder blade, while Kyungsoo held his palm against his biceps while Chanyeol was leading him through the studio. Kyungsoo had his eyes closed while being let, putting his whole trust into Chanyeol and Chanyeol’s heart swell so much, he was afraid it might burst through his chest.

Chanyeol slung his arms around Kyungsoo’s shoulders pressing him against his torso so hard he might absorb him, dropping his head against his shoulder when the next song came on. Kyungsoo tightened his hold on Chanyeol’s shirt and swayed them along. Chanyeol only realised he was so caught in the moment when he heard Kyungsoo singing along, wiping tears that Chanyeol spilt caught in the moment, accompanying Kyungsoo with his voice.

Lost in their thoughts while swaying from left to right, Chanyeol almost didn’t realise his current musical obsession came but he tightened his hold on Kyungsoo even more when the lyrics filtered into his subconsciousness, “Let it go/Free your mind, live your life, feed your soul/Give your time, see your fam, keep 'em close/'Cause you never know when it could all be gone/Just let it go, let it go, let it go… ”

He was just so unbelievably grateful.

official 89.35 FM playlist on Spotify.

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