“Where’s Jongin?”

Jongdae’s voice is strained, curled lips pulled downwards and eyebrows furrowed. He’s walking in circles around the small waiting room, shoulders tense and hands fidgeting.

Two pairs of eyes follow his steps, one filled with concern and the other with annoyance.

“Don’t get your in a twist, DaeDae. He’ll show up in time.”

Jongdae stares at his two friends sitting on the small couch, still stomping around.

“But what if he had an incident? You know how he-”

“Jongdae, please calm down.” The second man says. “Don’t stress that much, it doesn’t do any good.”

“Yeah-” The first one with red hair snorts. “Maybe try and destress with yoga like Yixing-hyung. Your heart would thank you.”

“My heart would be grateful if you’d just shut up, Baek.”

An exaggerated gasp can be heard and Jongdae rolls his eyes.

Only ten minutes are left until their gig starts and Jongin hasn’t arrived yet. Jongdae has already tried calling him, exactly fifteen times plus eighteen messages - each one getting more pissed at his younger brother.

It’s at times like these that he turns against their mother’s request and wishes that Jongin would just apparate to calm his boiling anger. If he doesn’t show up in the next five minutes-

The door to their waiting room gets thrown open, hitting the coat rack and reveals a panting black-haired man.

“I’m here!”

Jongdae’s head turns to look at his brother and he stomps his way over to him. Out of the corner of his eyes, he can see how Baekhyun rolls with his eyes and mumbles something like “ Wouldn’t have known without you saying it .”

His eyes flit back to Jongin, who ing finally arrived and who’s looking at him with big eyes, lips open to apologize.

“Spare your words and get into your outfit.” Jongdae stares at him with angry eyes and tense brows. “The stage is ready, but you’re not.”

Jongin nods and hurries into the bathroom. 

Seconds later, Yixing emerges from the same door and smiles into the room. Ignoring the fuming Jongdae, he says, “This gig will be a good one, trust me.” and walks to the coat rack to get into his jacket.

Baekhyun lets out a laugh that sounds like a snort.

“Believe me, Yixing-hyung,” the redhead gets up. “this evening will be breathtaking . We’ll see each other later~” With a wink to the man left on the couch, he exits the room through the still opened door.

A groan follows. “God, he’s so hot.” 

Jongdae raises his eyebrow and crosses his arms, shifting his stare from the bathroom door to the couch. 

“More like an annoying fever you never get rid of, Chanyeol.”

Said man laughs and stands up to join Yixing and Jongdae at the door, patting the latter on the back. 

“Then I’d gladly stay ill forever.”

Jongdae snorts amused and the second he wants to respond, the bathroom door opens and Jongin hurries to get into his suit jacket.

“Are you ready?” Jongdae sends him a questioning look and gets a nod as an answer. “Okay, then let’s make this evening enjoyable for everyone.” A sigh. “Today’s friday, that means we’ll do the ballad set, Jongin. Don’t forget to listen to Chan’s rhythm, be careful not to get too slow.”

“Calm down, Hyung. It’ll be fine.”
Another sigh. “Yeah, I hope so.”

After their performance, Jongdae and Baekhyun sit in a booth - both with a beer in hand. The former appears upset and Baekhyun has his arm around angular shoulders, patting an elbow to comfort his friend.

“Look, you were great! Don’t overthink, DaeDae.”

“But I messed up the lyrics for Beau -”

“No, you didn’t.” Baekhyun shakes his head, red hair appearing on fire with the yellow lighting of the room. “You changed the lyrics, yes, but you handled it like a pro! Nobody noticed, I swear.”

But Jongdae looks away and stares at his beer, starting to scrape its label off with a glum expression.

Baekhyun’s look turns concerned, he removes his arm from the shoulders and tries to catch his best friend’s attention with waving it in front of his bottle.

“Hey, what got you so miserable? Usually, you’d-”

He gets interrupted by Chanyeol sitting down in front of them with a cocktail in his hand - the cushion sighs under the weight of the tall man.

“What’s up? I thought you’d be finished with stressing out after the performance, Jongdae.”

Said man stays quiet and Baekhyun pats his elbow again.

“He thinks he ed up Beautiful Goodbye .”

Chanyeol frowns at that.

“But he covered up his slip-up perfectly. I almost didn’t notice!”

Baekhyun turns to Jongdae with big eyes.

“See! Even Chanyeol thinks you did great and that has to mean something, right?”

“He didn't say it was great, Baek …” Jongdae finally mumbles. “But thank you for your nice words.”

The red-haired man frowns at his sad tone.

“Now answer, DaeDae. Why are you so bummed out by your little mistake? Usually, you’d brush it off and complain more about the others.”

Jongdae stops fidgeting with his bottle.

“It’s not just the lyrics …” A deep sigh. “Nothing goes right lately.”

Chanyeol and Baekhyun send each other a concerned look - this pessimistic side is rare to see and both worry about the thoughts behind Jongdae’s words. The last time this happened, his boss threatened to fire him without sound reasons yet their friend blamed himself.

With a careful tone, Chanyeol asks: “Do you have problems with your job again?”

Jongdae shakes his head.

“No, it’s …” He sighs and takes a big gulp of his beer. “It’s about Min-hyung. Or about me - us?  … I don’t know.” His fingers are back fidgeting with the bottle. “We don’t see each other much these days. He’s busy with the playing season and I got my hands full with lessons.”

Chanyeol frowns in worry. “But don’t you share a flat and see each other there?”

“That doesn’t mean they’re glued together.” Baekhyun slaps the taller’s arm. “If you’d have a roommate you’d know that!”

Chanyeol grumbles something, that has the red-haired gasping.

“Don’t say that! He never-”

Jongdae stops listening to the bickering of his two friends and gets lost in his negative thoughts. The label of his beer bottle is completely scraped off by now.

One beer turns into three and somewhere between the second and third, Baekhyun started getting louder and annoyed Jongdae until he started spilling his problems. First with reluctance, then after a round of shots (of course, Baekhyun’s doing) his mouth gets talkative - words seem to fall out of his lips on their own.

“And-and when he gets home late, his eyebrows are so tense!” Jongdae imitates his words, pulling straight brows together in an exaggerated way. “I-I just want to cuddle him until he’s happy again or-or kiss him until he’s too breathless to be sad. Or when he comes back after jogging, all sweaty and panting! I just ...” He rubs his face with a groan. “I could him the second he steps a foot into the flat.”

Baekhyun whoops. “Yeah! Get some action, DaeDae!”

“No~” Jongdae whines and he sways a bit. “He always says he’s too exhausted and when we get to have some fun, this-this hell born monster of a cat interrupts us! Every single time!”

“I’m sure she’s not that bad.” Chanyeol’s words are slurred, the colourful cocktail in his hand is almost empty. “Minseok-hyung always speaks good of her.”

Jongdae sends him a pointed look, eyebrows raised in agitation. “She’s his child, of course he’s only talking positively about her. But when he’s away, she acts like a spoiled brat and attacks me.” His arms move frantically. “With claws and all!” 

“Attack?” Baekhyun’s eyes grow wide, shot glass frozen in front of his lips. “With blood?”

“Yes!” Jongdae nods, the movement is exaggerated due to his drunkenness and he sways with his upper body.

Chanyeol frowns. “Did you tell Hyung about this?”

“No …” Jongdae tries to dip his finger into his shot glass, not sure if there’s still alcohol in it. After three attempts he gets it, but his finger stays dry and with a pout he continues, “We don’t really talk that much lately either … not that he would believe me anyway.”

“Don’t say that, DaeDae.” Alcohol gets poured into his glass by a shaking hand. “You have to stay positive!”

Jongdae downs the shot after clinking his glass with Baekhyun’s, spilling some liquid on the table. His gaze stays lowered, following the drops rolling down the sloping surface and he starts to inspect it for any scratches. 

Baekhyun sighs after putting his glass down with a clunk and Chanyeol’s slurping the last remnants of his cocktail. The following quiet moments seem to help Jongdae to come to terms with his true worries. He’s already talkative with the level of alcohol that is running through his veins and it’s opening doors to thoughts he’d avoid to think about otherwise.

“I guess I’m scared?” He finds an indent on the tabletop and traces it with a fingernail. “I don’t want to spend our little time together fighting.”

“But you don’t know that for sure. That you’ll fight, I mean.” Chanyeol’s slurred words have a soft tone. “I’d say start with opening up about your problems to him?”

“Chan’s right.” Baekhyun nods with enthusiasm. “You miss him, don’t you?”

Jongdae hums with a sad smile.

“Then tell him so! Talk to him!” The redhead grabs his upper arm and shoves him a bit for emphasis. “Talk to him and-and you’ll find a solution. Together!” A hiccup. “You’re together for so long already, DaeDae. Why start doubting him now?”

After staring holes into the table for so long, Jongdae lifts his gaze at Baekhyun's words and looks into his best friend's eyes. 

Despite their hazy look of drunkenness, he can make out the obvious concern and he feels how his own eyes get watery. He’s such an idiot to stay silent to Minseok about his worries. To let them grow into a ball of anxiety and let it deceive himself that they’ll fight. Which causes him to stay quiet - turning it into a downwards spiral of anxious thoughts. He has let his insecurities overpower their happiness.

“Baekhyun’s right.” Chanyeol’s voice interrupts his thoughts. “You’re both busy. But-but that doesn’t mean you don’t love each other anymore! When you see one another - you’re happy, right? No matter …” He coughs lighty. “N-no matter how little time you’ve got or how little you talk, you’re t-together and you’ll get through this challenging time. You did it before, right?” The tall man looks at Baekhyun for help. “Didn’t you tell me once that they didn’t see each other for more than two months ?”

“Oh! Yes.” said man nods and puts his arm around Jongdae’s shoulders like earlier. “You were so so depressed, but you made do with calling andapar -eh, visiting over the w-weekend!”

A smile forms on Jongdae’s lips and he takes a deep breath, blinking tears away.

“You’re right, b-both of you. Thank you for reminding me that Min and I are stronger … than my insecurities want me to-to believe, I guess … Yes, we’re both busy? But we make time for each other as much as p-possible. " He has to swallow. "It doesn’t help t-that I’ll keep all these … worries to myself. I’ll talk to him.”

“Yeah!” Baekhyun whoops followed by a hiccup and raises his shot glass. “Fight your anxiety!”