A/N:

• tw: if you’re triggered by any weight comments then there’s a part here that has some of the typical comments for thin people; it's not done with malice but just in case you get triggered by it, it happens in a short, unimportant way in this chapter

Heeyoung walked down the hallway, leaving her parents (who got caught up in a conversation with other fellow parents) and her sister (who started chatting with her friends) to follow her when they could. She hummed some song she was learning on the piano that week as she checked the signs of each room she passed until she stopped at the right one. 

The moment she opened the door, the sound that had been muffled was now clear and so very loud. She shook her head fondly, knowing that they were all playing around before they went up on stage, trying to get rid of the nervousness.

A quick glance around the room told her that some members weren’t actually there, including her brother who had probably wandered off to bother a sunbae just because he could. Instead of finding him, Heeyoung grinned and walked towards the figure sitting on a chair at the corner with his eyes closed. At first glance, he looked like he was asleep, but Heeyoung could see his hands gripped tightly together and she knew he was desperately praying the nerves away.

Not wanting to bother his prayer, she silently dragged another empty chair to sit beside him and waited for him to finish. Unfortunately, he was taking too long and Heeyoung can tell he was just chanting the same prayer over and over again, so she kicked his chair hard enough for him to jump in surprise. His panicked eyes opened to find her laughing at his reaction.

“Not now, Heeyoung-ah.” He muttered halfheartedly, knowing he needed all the support he could get at this moment. At first, he thought Heeyoung actually listened and stayed quiet, but that seemed suspicious, so he opened an eye to see her silently laughing so much that there were tears in her eyes.

“What is wrong with you?” He asked, but he couldn’t stop the laughter that was slowly coming out of him at the sight of his best friend losing her sanity. 

Heeyoung wanted to about the spiky hair and the chains on his clothes, but decided that now wasn’t the time. Kyuhyun was too nervous about his debut stage and making him insecure about his outfit wouldn’t help. They’ll laugh about it some other time then, she decided.

“That’s a rude question to ask, Cho Kyuhyun. I’m absolutely perfect.” She said the moment she was able to catch her breath. “You’re almost going to go up on stage, right?”

The reality that he had escaped for a second while laughing with Heeyoung suddenly crashed back down on Kyuhyun. Heeyoung could see him slightly pale despite the makeup that was already on him.

“Hey, hey, hey. No. No panicking.” Heeyoung shook her head as she stood up with a hand held out. “Come on, get up. I have a tradition.”

“Tradition?” Kyuhyun asked. “You’re not the one going up on stage.”

Heeyoung rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand, impatiently tugging at it. “Yeah, I know that. But I did something with all of the members before their first stage and, now, you have to do it with me!”

“What is it?” He asked hesitantly, but stood up anyway.

“Donghee oppa!” Heeyoung called out to one of the members in the room. “Can you help me out for a second?”

“Sure, sure.” Shindong walked towards them with a smile. This hyung was a bit nervous too, Kyuhyun noted, but definitely not as nervous as him. The other members had tried to help him calm down, offering him a bit of advice based on their first debut (they’d been much nicer and more welcoming ever since they became a permanent group, generally apologizing to him through actions), but he had declared he needed time to pray. “What do you need?”

“Remember before you all went on stage when you debuted? I also came to visit and I forced you all to do something?” She took her phone out from her pocket and offered it to him.

Shindong laughed at her words, taking the phone in his hands. “Ah, right. You didn’t give us a choice. Are you going to make Kyuhyun do it too?”

“Do what?” Kyuhyun asked nervously, eyes going back and forth between the two. “What am I going to do?”

“Of course! It’s tradition now. Or maybe just a debut ritual?” Heeyoung thought out loud as she moved back to stand beside Kyuhyun, absolutely ignoring everything the latter just said. “I don’t feel like I can go to each and every single performance of yours often enough to make it a tradition.”

“What is it?” Kyuhyun asked anxiously.

Heeyoung looked at him and pointed at Shindong who was holding the phone. “It’s just a picture, Kyuhyun-ah. Why are you so nervous?”

There was a beat of silence before Kyuhyun narrowed his eyes. “I don’t believe it’s just a picture.”

She laughed in response. “You’re right. You’re going to carry me on your back.”

Kyuhyun’s eyes widened. “I’m going to what?”

He was going to ask for confirmation because surely he didn’t hear that right. But Shindong was suddenly counting “Hana, dul, set!” and Heeyoung was quick to move behind him and jump. On pure reflex, he grabbed her legs to help steady her as she moved her arms to secure her position. Once they were stable enough, Kyuhyun paused to breathe out deeply in resignation as Heeyoung urged him to look at the camera and smile.

The next second, Heeyoung had already let go and jumped down. She skipped to Shindong and took the phone, excited to look at the pictures. “Thank you, oppa!” 

“You’re not even going to show it to me?” Kyuhyun asked when she looked through her phone as Shindong walked away. “I was just forced to carry you. What if I broke my back or lost all my strength that I couldn’t perform on stage anymore?”

Heeyoung shook her head at him like he was a kid. “Oh, poor you. It was that hard to carry a friend, hmm? I’m not even that heavy.”

Kyuhyun rolled his eyes and snatched her phone from her, but she just laughed and moved next to him so they could look at the photos together. “It’s good that you know that. You’re too light and you’re already small. You need to eat more or else the light breeze would make you lose balance.”

“Aigoo!” A voice joined in. “Please keep telling her that, maybe she’ll listen to you because she definitely doesn’t listen to me.”

“Omma,” Heeyoung whined as the older woman approached both of them, “I do listen to you. I ate an entire box of cookies this morning!”

“Tsk, I said proper food, not sweets.” Her mother glared, making Heeyoung lightly pull Kyuhyun to hide behind him. “You’re already too energetic.”

“No, I’m not.” Heeyoung weakly defended.

Kyuhyun tilted his head, a teasing smile on his face. “Mm, you kinda are.” He said, prompting Heeyoung to hit his arm and mumble about how much of a traitor he is.

“Are you Cho Kyuhyun?” Heeyoung’s mother asked kindly. “You’re the new member, right? And you were a trainee with Heeyoung-ie?”

“Yes, I am. And I was.” He smiled awkwardly and bowed in greeting when he ran out of words. “Nice to meet you.”

“You look very handsome and smart!” She complimented him, despite the weird style he had on (that Heeyoung was very politely not teasing him about). “I heard you’re also very good at singing. I look forward to seeing you on the stage.”

“Oh, thank you. Thank you.” He bowed once more, making Heeyoung notice how awkward he must be feeling, so she decided to save his friend.

“Omma, have you seen Heechul oppa already?” She asked. “I heard he looks very pretty today. Was that him?” Heeyoung pointed to the door where a man with long hair just walked past, the loud voice making noise as he greeted other people was very familiar for all of them.

“I should probably go and greet oppa as well.” Heeyoung muttered thoughtfully as they watched her mother walk towards Heechul. She grimaced when her siblings started trying to get their omma’s attention to resolve some petty fight that they probably had the moment they saw each other. No need to worry, this is all normal in the Kim family. “I don’t feel like it though.”

She remembered Kyuhyun still had her phone and took it from him. Another glance at the pictures made her laugh as Kyuhyun rolled his eyes.. “How do you look tired while smiling so insincerely? This is so—”

“Kyuhyun-ah?” A different voice interrupted them. They both turned to see another woman looking a bit awkward in the room but still smiling at them brightly. With her was a man who looked to be her husband, and a younger woman who looked like the daughter.

“Omma! Appa! Noona!” Kyuhyun was the one who exclaimed this time. Heeyoung watched in delight as he greeted his family in a very cute way, being extremely obvious that he was the youngest in the family. “You’re here!”

“Of course, we’re here. We have to support your debut, right?” His mother hugged him back tightly. “Congratulations, Kyuhyun-ah.”

“Don’t congratulate him yet. He still has to go on stage.” His father teased, but he patted him in the back just the same. “Do good out there, son.”

“What if you slip?” His older sister asked with wide eyes, obviously trying to scare the maknae. “Wow, that would be so embarrassing.”

“Shut up, noona.” He quipped back, unfazed by her comments. Heeyoung can see how he looked much better when he saw his family. “Ah, I should introduce you to the members, but they’re all scattered right now. So, this is Heeyoung instead. She’s one of the member’s, Heechul hyung’s, sister and we were trainees at the same time, so we’re friends.”

“Hello, nice to meet you. I’m Kim Heeyoung.” She greeted with all the grace that Kyuhyun lacked when greeting her mother. “I’ll go greet my oppa now so you can have time to catch up.” She politely bowed as she moved to walk away, patting Kyuhyun twice in the arm and sending the family a genuine smile. 

“Are you dating?” Ahra asked immediately once Heeyoung was out of earshot.

“No!” Kyuhyun answered without hesitation. “We’re really just friends, noona, stop making up stories in your head.”

“She looks like a very nice girl, though.” His mother commented knowingly, which Kyuhyun just ignored as he attempted to lead his family to the other side of the room where most of the members were at.

After about ten minutes of everyone finally getting introduced to each other and Leeteuk leading his team to make a proper greeting to all the parents that arrived that day, a staff member had peeked their head into the room and announced that they would be on in fifteen minutes and were being asked to move to the side of the stage.

“Kyuhyun-ah!” He turned at the sound of his name. They were already in the hallway outside, walking to the direction the staff told them to go to. Heeyoung stood on the other side of the hallway, probably coming from the nearby convenience store judging by the plastic bag in her hand and the ice cream she was eating. “Good luck on your debut stage! I bought ice cream for all of you when you’re done! Have fun!”

Kyuhyun breathed deeply before smiling and waving at her. “Thank you! See you later!” And he turned to follow the other members, his heart pounding at the sounds of the crowd cheering for them.

Kyuhyun blinked at the sight of other people holding pretty bouquets that they planned to give to one of the people who would be performing on the stage tonight. It seemed to be the go-to gift for these situations, but Heeyoung had told him that the plants she tried to take care of all died and she always ended up crying afterwards. Flowers were never really an option for him. So, he walked into the building, among the crowd of people eager to watch the show, with a small, filled paper bag hidden in his coat and waited by one of the doors at the side.

After two minutes of waiting and ignoring the looks the guard near the door kept sending him (at first he thought maybe he was being recognized as a Super Junior member but Kyuhyun quickly realized he was suspiciously standing by the staff entrance), the door opened and a familiar face greeted him.

“Hi.” Heeyoung whispered. She turned to wave to the guard before taking Kyuhyun’s wrist and pulling him through the door. They silently walked quickly down the hallway with Heeyoung in the lead. Each room they passed by was filled with typical noises of people making final checks on the outfits or the actors singing or practicing their lines. 

Kyuhyun was amazed at the chaotic mess that was in the backstage rooms before he was pulled into one and the noise became muffled once the door was shut.

“You have your own room?” He asked once he realized they were alone.

Heeyoung chuckled at his question. “Even the producer and director had to share a room because there isn’t enough space with all of the cast. I’m not even one of the leads.” She went to one of the mirrors to check if her hair got messed up when they walked. It didn’t. “I share the room with three unnies and two of them went outside to practice their fight scene and the other one went to find her family.”

Kyuhyun was finally able to get a good look at his friend when she turned and leaned on the makeup table. From what he heard, the musical was an original fictional story of various famous people, and Heeyoung played the role of a young performer. It explained why she was wearing a sequined dress with her hair curled up, a style Kyuhyun had never seen on her before. The eyeliner she had reminded him of those charismatic sunbaes in music shows that Kyuhyun automatically bowed to when he spotted them.

“You look...different.” Kyuhyun commented with a shrug.

Heeyoung burst out laughing at his words. “I look great, Kyuhyun-ah. It’s fine, you can admit it. It’s a fact, anyway. Say it with me: ‘Wow, Heeyoung-ah, you look beautiful today.’” She slowed down with each word and kept prompting him to follow with her hand.

He only shook his head in response. “I shouldn’t have gotten you a gift.”

“You got me a gift?!” She stopped in surprise. “What is it? What is it? What is it?” Heeyoung was at his side in no time and shaking his arm as if it was going to make him give it over faster.

“Of course, I got you a gift. It’s your first stage and I’m the only one who’s coming around to visit.” Originally, her family wanted to watch as well, but because they all happened to have work that day, Heeyoung told them to come the next day instead. Later on, she confided to Kyuhyun that it actually makes her feel better that they couldn’t go because then she’d be more nervous. She also tried asking if he could come by on the second day instead, but he insisted on being there for her debut the same way she was there for his. 

He narrowed his eyes at her for a second, waiting until she had finally calmed down, before bringing out the paper bag from his coat and handing it to her. She opened it excitedly and gasped.

“Kyuhyun-ah, thank you!” She pulled out the disposable camera from the bag and filled it up with the film he bought as well. Heeyoung absolutely loved taking pictures, whether she was a part of it or not. “Oh my god, I’m going to take so many pictures.”

“You have to decide carefully.” Kyuhyun warned with a grin, satisfied with her excited reaction. “That’s going to run out of film soon if you just take pictures of everything. You don’t— Yah!” He shouted in surprise at the flash of the camera pointed at him. “I told you not to waste it.”

“It’s not a waste.” Heeyoung stated surely before moving to his side and hooking her arm around his. “Smile!” She said as she pointed the camera towards both of them and leaned her head on his shoulder.

“Are you not even nervous?” He asked once Heeyoung stopped taking pictures and began carefully inspecting every part of the camera instead. Once in a while, he sees her obviously struggling internally to stop herself from taking random pictures so she could save some film to take pictures with her fellow cast members. 

“It’s gonna be fun. What’s there to be nervous about?” She shrugged, still too busy with the camera. “Plus I’m too excited about everything right now, this camera just added to that. I have no space in my emotions to feel nervous."

A knock on the door took their attention and Heeyoung moved to open it. 

“Hi, Heeyoung-ah. You’re all being asked to get ready now. Show starts in a while.” The woman at the door spotted Kyuhyun in the room. “Hi, will you be watching the show? Of course, you are. Please proceed to your seat. The show will begin shortly.”

“Right. Okay.” He nodded and moved towards the door.

“Can you find your way back to the entrance?” Heeyoung asked as he started to leave.

He sent her a look. “I’m not an idiot, Heeyoung-ah. We went down one straight hallway.” Kyuhyun shook his head as she shrugged as if to say ‘you never know’. “Good luck on your performance. Have fun!”

She smiled again. “Thank you, Kyuhyun-ah. See you later.”