Wonwoo’s talking to Minghao about which colour grading looks better and Soonyoung joins, offering Wonwoo some snacks as Minghao shows both of them the different options.

“I was wondering…” Wonwoo starts,

“Do you guys hang out like this everyday?”

“Yeah,” Soonyoung answers, and Minghao nods in agreement as he reaches over for some chips.

“We were all friends beforehand, but the club gives us a reason to meet and help our other friends,” he explains,

“Ah,” Wonwoo says, nodding.

“So, the Tonics formed and the rest of us wanted to do stuff whenever they had band practice, and so!” Soonyoung spreads his arms and looks around the room.

“You took over a club?”

“Exactly,” Minghao says, and Wonwoo laughs.

“How ‘bout you?” he asks,

“Hm?”

“What’d you do before you joined us?” Minghao asks.

“Nothing, really,” Wonwoo says, and it wouldn’t be much of an exaggeration.

“I just went to class and went home. Aside from what we do as a club, not much has changed from that,” he answers, nodding.

Minghao and Soonyoung share a look before looking at Wonwoo,

“So, are we your first friend group here?”

More like ever, but Wonwoo just nods, figuring 3 years of no friend group sounds less pitiful than his whole life.

Soonyoung swiftly moves closer to Wonwoo and hooks an arm around his shoulders,

“So is the position of your best friend still open?” and Wonwoo is amused but confused,

“No,” Jeonghan startles them, and Minghao laughs when Jeonghan adds,

“That’s taken, you can be his lackey,” and Jeonghan motions for Soonyoung to scoot over before hopping on from behind the couch.

“Hyung, you’re not even his best friend, you just meddle too much,”

“Never said it was me,” Jeonghan says, sticking out his tongue childishly and Soonyoung just rolls his eyes.

Wonwoo has finally started to relax around the club, he learned that Minghao and Hansol are quiet much like himself and, although their energies seem much higher, Jeonghan and Soonyoung didn’t force them to do anything they didn’t want to, and Seungcheol kept the balance while coordinating with their advisor the most.

It was a nice dynamic, Wonwoo thinks, and he hopes they think he makes a nice addition.

“Oh, Wonwoo, have you seen the newest blog post?”

“No,” he says and Jeonghan pulls out his phone to show him.

Looking at the picture of Mingyu takes him back to that night again, and Jeonghan smiles at his wide eyes.

“Cool, huh?” and Wonwoo nods,

“That was a really good photo,” Minghao compliments,

“Mingyu’s photos are always the most popular,” Seungcheol comments as he enters the room and Wonwoo asks to hold Jeonghan’s phone to scroll through the blog.

There are several photos of Tonics performances, some of school festivals, showcases, and other events. He has a smile small as he realizes that now university is more than just going to class and going back home.

“There’s a school festival coming up,” Jeonghan says,

“You should come,” and Wonwoo looks at him,

“Oh, are we covering it?”

“Well yeah, but you should come to have fun with us!” Soonyoung answers,

“Honestly, I don’t even know what this festival is for but it should be fun,” Seungcheol adds.

The group then starts talking about who will be where at the festival before they all meet up to enjoy the night. Hansol jogs into the room a couple minutes later, and he offers to take whatever station they don’t want to make up for being late. Wonwoo says he’ll do the same as the new member, and they quickly decide on stations and potential rotations before there’s a knock at the door.

Seungcheol yells it’s open and the door swings open with the Tonics comfortably coming in.

“Why do you guys even bother to knock?”

“’Cause unlike you guys, we have manners?” Jihoon says before grabbing Soonyoung’s bag of snacks and helping himself.

“What’re you guys here for?”

“Delivery and we were gonna ask you guys about the festival,”

“Delivery?” Seungcheol asks, getting up from the bean bag and Joshua sits down,

“Not for you though,” and Seungcheol tells him to get out of his bean bag and Joshua points out there’s another one, to which Seungcheol argues that it’s not the same comfort level.

Wonwoo hasn’t interacted with the Tonics much after their performance at the bar, but their dynamic with his fellow AV club members is enough to feel like he was welcome.

They’re discussing the possibility of having their set at the festival recorded so they can upload it to their socials, and the AV club tells them they can do it. The Tonics even suggest that they just borrow a camera and tripod, then the AV members would be free to do whatever they want. Jeonghan says they planned on going to watch them anyway, since they’d be the closing act, and then they’d enjoy the festival together.

Jeonghan looks at Wonwoo who’s quietly listening to the conversation, then around the room.

“Where’s your drummer?” Jeonghan asks and Jihoon checks his phone to see if he missed any texts,

“He said he’d follow, maybe he got lost,”

“I did not get lost,” Mingyu says,

“Would you look at that, speakin’ of the devil,” Jeonghan teases and Mingyu gives him a wink,

“What took you so long?” Jihoon asks,

“I had to grab something,” he looks around the room,

“You guys act like I was late for something, you guys are just hanging out,” and Junhui objects,

“We handled our business already,”

“Oh business, what business, Soonyoung hyung’s snacks?” and they laugh.

There was a spot next to Wonwoo on the couch that Jeonghan conveniently got up from, telling Mingyu to sit since he had to talk to Joshua about something. The group naturally breaks up into small conversations, as they usually do, and Jihoon reminds s that they have five minutes till their professor does sectionals.

Wonwoo wonders if he should say something to Mingyu first, contemplates bringing up the last time they saw each other, thinks about asking what class the sectionals were for.

“Jeon Wonwoo,” Mingyu says and Wonwoo looks at his extended hand.

“Kim Mingyu?” Wonwoo questions with a small smile as he takes the paper from Mingyu,

“Read it when I’m gone,” he says with an expectant grin and quickly gets up from the couch.

Mingyu leaves just like he came, in a rush and talking back to Jihoon.

“Where are you going, we still have time?” Jihoon says, checking his watch,

“I’m gonna tune!” he yells back from the hallway,

“Tune? You play the drums!” and for some reason, Mingyu running triggers the rest of the Tonics to get up and hurry out.

“We’ll see you guys later!” Joshua says, taking his time on his way out.

There’s a moment of silence, like the calm after a storm, and Seungcheol sighs and they all laugh at the chaos their friends always bring with them.

 

 

Wonwoo almost forgets about the note, only remembering when he’s clearing his sweater pockets to prepare to do some laundry.

Wonwoo doesn’t know what exactly he was expecting – maybe it was a flyer about drum lessons, maybe a promotional poster for their festival performance, he doesn’t really know.

So, when he unfolds the paper with a list of presumably song titles and their artists, accompanied by a phone number and note at the bottom, he just stares for a bit. Mingyu’s handwriting is neat and his note reads:

Jeon Wonwoo!

You said you didn’t know any of the songs from our set, but I thought you’d like to know!

Wonwoo, unsurprisingly, doesn’t recognize any of the songs,

I recommend listening to them with headphones (if you have any good ones, you’ll hear a difference in the mixing!) and here’s my number!

Feel free to text me if you have any questions

and Wonwoo laughs to himself, recognizing a similar line from most of his professors,

Or if you just want to talk 😊

Mingyu’s smiley face suits him, and Wonwoo finds himself mimicking the expression. Jeonghan must’ve been right when he said Mingyu doesn’t think of much else except music. Wonwoo can’t deny Mingyu’s enthusiasm to share makes him want to learn to love music again. He also can’t deny how happy this gesture makes him.

He grabs his headphones and plugs it into his laptop before using Spotify to make a playlist of the songs. He’s noticed Mingyu has drawn little stars beside some of the songs, and he figures those are his favourite.

Wonwoo usually listens to YouTube or audiobooks, he hasn’t found himself enjoying music in a way that makes him want to put on headphones, close his eyes and just listen. But Mingyu went out of his way to write this list down, and the least Wonwoo could do is listen, the laundry can wait till after.

Studio recordings of the songs he heard that night, professional mixing and editing, give them a slightly different sound but Wonwoo can hear every detail in the audio files. He can also hear where the Tonics added their own flavour and interpretations.

Wonwoo finds himself paying extra attention to the rhythm section, the groove, the swing. He remembers the smile on Mingyu’s face in that practice room.

 

Mingyu’s staring at his phone, finally giving in after pretending to not care and focus on practicing. Between him telling himself he should just leave it and the other half arguing he might miss notifications if he practices on his electric kit, his screen lights up.

Unknown: Hi Kim Mingyu, this is Wonwoo.
                    I just wanted to say thank you for the paper playlist, and let you know that
                    my favourites were Moanin’ and Red Clay. I wasn’t swayed by the stars you
                    drew though, promise.

Mingyu smiles at his phone, thinking how Wonwoo’s texting suits him. Before he can type back a reply, another message rings in.

Jeon Wonwoo: Oh, also I meant the Tonics versions of those songs. Nothing against the
                             originals, just thought the way you guys changed things was refreshing!

Jeon Wonwoo: Thank you again! Sorry if I texted too much or too late

Mingyu scrambles to message a reply,

Kim Mingyu: Jeon Wonwoo! Thanks for listening and sending a msg, Im glad you enjoyed!

Kim Mingyu: and it was nothing, I hope I wasnt pushing it on you

Kim Mingyu: but howd you know the starred ones were my favourite? LOL

Wonwoo’s surprised at the promptness of his replies, and sits in the middle of his laundry to reciprocate the attentiveness. Other than the AV group chat, Wonwoo doesn’t text often, but he finds it not so bad.

Jeon Wonwoo: You didn’t push it on me, it was nice to listen to the setlist again so thank you

Kim Mingyu: No no, thank YOU for saying you prefer our versions

Jeon Wonwoo: It’s nice hearing the creative differences in you guys. Do you guys upload your versions anywhere?

Kim Mingyu: Other than a few videos from the crowd on YouTube, not really

Kim Mingyu: But after the festival, hopefully we can get some content up with better audio quality

Jeon Wonwoo: I’ll look forward to the festival then!

Kim Mingyu: Youre gonna be there right?

Jeon Wonwoo: Yeah, club is covering it

Kim Mingyu: Ah yeah

Kim Mingyu: But how bout you specifically?

Jeon Wonwoo: ? Me?

Kim Mingyu: Will you watch our performance?

Jeon Wonwoo: Hopefully yeah

Jeon Wonwoo: I got assigned to cover the food stalls, but I’ll try and head over when you guys go on stage

Wonwoo is almost annoyingly amused at his own words. Eagerness to watch a performance was so distant, it was foreign. But he finds himself meaning his words to Mingyu. Perhaps it was to uphold this façade of interest in music, it being the only thing that connects him to Mingyu and holds his place in the AV club who are the Tonics’ friends. Or maybe it was genuine fondness of the music, though that too has grown foreign.

Kim Mingyu: I hope to see you there, Jeon Wonwoo!

Kim Mingyu: Just use a food picture from Google, who will really know the difference?

Kim Mingyu: LMFAO Jk jk

Jeon Wonwoo: That’s tempting, I just might

Jeon Wonwoo: (That was also a joke)

Wonwoo finds it difficult to gage their distance, so he just hopes he’s not boring him with this conversation. On the other end of the conversation, Mingyu’s glad they finally have a way to communicate outside of coincidences at school.

 

The festival is on a Friday night and the AV members have agreed to meet at their club room before dispersing to their assigned stations. Wonwoo enters the room and hears that now familiar and pleasant murmur of conversation and laughter.

“Wonwoo!” Seungcheol greets, and Wonwoo makes his way to the group.

They all talk about things they’re excited for, Hansol is letting Wonwoo know that there’s several fair games they can play at the end of the night while Seungcheol and Minghao confirm their areas on a map of the festival.

“Oh, right,” Seungcheol starts,

“Wonwoo, c’mere,” and Wonwoo joins the little huddle.

“I know we discussed our spots the other day, but do you mind switching with me?”

“Oh, that’s fine. Where were you covering?”

“The performances,”

“Ah, okay,”

“We’ll likely all be there by the last act, so don’t worry about the Tonics’ video, but are you sure you’re okay with switching?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Wonwoo assures with a nod.

“Thanks,” Seungcheol says with a smile and pat on his back.

Seungcheol gives Wonwoo a map that he puts in his crossbody bag, along with accessories for the camera and other necessities he usually packs.

They disperse into the festival, Soonyoung saying he’ll walk with Wonwoo since the games are close to the stage area.

The sun is just about setting, casting orange over the stalls and people. Wonwoo likes how warm it feels, so he snaps a quick photo before Soonyoung starts talking about some story that Wonwoo can’t help but find entertaining.

“Told you,” Jeonghan says to Seungcheol as they walk to the food booths,

“I still think you could’ve asked,”

“No, he would’ve had more questions and honestly might’ve said no,” and they both laugh.

“Don’t so much,” Seungcheol says,

“I don’t!”

“Oh, really? So, you making me switch with him so he’d be near Mingyu most of night isn’t teasing?”

“Seungcheol-ah, you shoulda seen them in the practice room that one time,”

“One time!” Seungcheol repeats,

“They barely know each other; they met like 2 weeks ago.”

“So?” Jeonghan says, and Seungcheol scoffs,

“So, maybe don’t meddle too much, you might make things awkward between them if you keep making assumptions.” Jeonghan scrunches his face in discontent,

“Boo,” he says with his thumbs down,

“You’re so boring!”

“Oh, forgive me for not using our new member as a toy,”

“That’s not what I’m doing, I’m being a good wingman. Take notes!” and Seungcheol just sighs while shaking his head with a slight smile.

 

Wonwoo situates himself in the middle, there’s hardly a crowd as the performances don’t start for another few minutes. If he were honest, had the show been purely musical acts, Wonwoo would’ve been more hesitant to switch with Seungcheol. But his club members told him that the acts vary, that it was more accurately a talent show as opposed to a concert.

The emcees are doing a mic check when Wonwoo’s phone gets a notification with a ding.

Kim Mingyu: Jeon Wonwoo!

Kim Mingyu: Are you at the festival?

Jeon Wonwoo: Yep

Jeon Wonwoo: Are you guys? Or do you guys come closer to your performance time

Kim Mingyu: We’re having a practice in the rooms first

Kim Mingyu: Hows the food looking?

Jeon Wonwoo: I got switched, you’d have to ask Seungcheol lol

Kim Mingyu: Oh??

Kim Mingyu: where’d they put you now

Jeon Wonwoo: Attachment: 1 Image

Jeon Wonwoo: Here

Kim Mingyu: OH!

Kim Mingyu: Agh wait Im getting yelled at one sec

Wonwoo laughs before putting his phone back in his pocket as the emcees start the show.

Thankfully, s were right. The acts consist of different showcases of talent and skill, the opening act being a dance crew, followed by a beatboxer, then a vocal duet. Wonwoo takes a few photos, walking around to change his angle and view, but ultimately is simply enjoying the show. The sun has fully set, allowing for great lighting contrast in his shots and the weather is just right, he thinks.

Everything is going smoothly, the emcees are hilarious and fill in the space between acts well, and the atmosphere is free spirited and happy. Wonwoo’s going through some photos he’s already taken, not listening to the introduction of the next act, and freezes when he hears the familiar sound of a piano.

It’s been long enough that just the sound of the piano doesn’t shove Wonwoo back on that dreadful stage – but when he hears the beginning of that final piece, he can’t help but lock his eyes on his camera.

Moonlight Sonata; the beginning is slow and dark and Wonwoo can almost visualize the score. Wonwoo had spent hours practicing and perfecting the Beethoven classic, only to never finish performing.

It was a well-known classical song, Wonwoo’s almost surprised it took this long to hear it again, but ironic amusement has no room to distract as his vision starts to tunnel, his hearing starts to muffle, and his mind starts to spiral.

He almost questions why such a melancholic piece was accepted into a school festival, but for now, he’s only concerned with getting away. The piano sounds like its being played underwater and Wonwoo notices his hands beginning to tremble again.

He’s too self-conscious to cover his ears, so Wonwoo resorts to walking quickly, figuring no one will scold him for not taking photos of one act. He tries to recall the festival map, thinking which of s is closer, maybe Soonyoung because he did walk him to the stage after all, but Wonwoo’s struggling to remember which way Soonyoung went after dropping him off and-

Wonwoo bumps into someone, his glasses falling on the grass and before he can say sorry, he feels a hand on his shoulder.

“Jeon Wonwoo,” Mingyu’s voice is slightly concerned as he hands him his glasses,

“You okay?” he asks, and Wonwoo reaches for his glasses but his hands are shaking too much that he pulls them back and wipes them on his sweater, whispering a,

“Sorry,”

“No, no it’s okay.” Mingyu assures, and holds Wonwoo’s glasses while he helps him up.

“Are you okay?” he asks again and Wonwoo’s still looking at the ground as he nods.

Embarrassing, is all Wonwoo thinks.

“Can you look up at me?” Mingyu asks, voice gentle enough that Wonwoo does it.

If Wonwoo’s anxiety is visible on his face, Mingyu doesn’t comment on it. Instead, he gives him a smile and pats his shoulder before showing him what he was holding in his other hand.

“I brought you some snacks,” he says,

“Figured you didn’t grab some before you went to go cover the show so,” and Wonwoo looks at the cups of street food Mingyu’s holding in a tray.

“If you have time, wanna eat with me?”

Wonwoo looks back up at Mingyu.

“Yeah,” he finally replies,

“Yeah, that’d be great,” he says with a small smile.

Mingyu looks at the stage then back at Wonwoo, before placing a guiding hand on his back and saying,

“Let’s find somewhere to eat,” then they start walking, Mingyu whistling one of the jazz songs that Wonwoo recognizes.

It slightly covers up the piano, and Wonwoo finds relief as they get further away. He’s thankful Mingyu doesn’t ask about his tremors, or why he was already leaving when Mingyu found him.

“I suggested we leave, but I don’t know where to eat…” Mingyu admits as they’re walking and they make eye contact before laughing.

“We can just eat and walk then,” Wonwoo suggests, and the other has no objections.

Wonwoo can’t hear the piano anymore but the sounds still linger, he’s just grateful the sounds of the festival are louder.

“I didn’t know what you like so I just got a bunch of things,” Mingyu says, offering the cups to Wonwoo and Wonwoo uses the skewers to eat.

“Thank you,” he says,

“No problem,” and Mingyu joins him to eat,

“If I gotta run, it’s ‘cause my members think I went to the washroom,” and Wonwoo looks at him amused.

“How long do you usually take for them to believe that?” and Mingyu hums in thought, saying various “uh”s and “um”s before they both laugh.

The two have been texting since they exchanged numbers, so conversing was smooth and natural. They walk slowly, Mingyu bringing up random topics of conversation and Wonwoo, though Mingyu’s probably not doing it purposely, appreciates Mingyu filling the silence. Wonwoo reaches into his bag and pulls out a pen, then proceeds to draw stars on a select few cups.

He has a satisfied smile as Mingyu inspects and looks at him, an eyebrow raised.

“Now you know which ones I like,” and Mingyu’s smile grows as he nods.

“Noted.” He says, then his phone goes off.

He grabs it from his pocket and looks at Wonwoo, amused,

“Hello?” he answers, already bracing himself,

“Kim Mingyu!” Jihoon yells on the other end of the line,

“Take as long as you want but if you mess up the intro in Sadie’s Sister, I will-“

“Hyung, I’m coming now! There was a line for the bathrooms,” and Jihoon scolds him some more, and Wonwoo smiles at the way Mingyu mocks him while rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, I’m coming, bye bye bye!” and Mingyu hangs up before the saxophonist can say anything else.

Mingyu sighs and looks at Wonwoo, who helps clear their empty cups, before suggesting,

“There’s a lot left, bring it with you as a peace offering,”

“Oh no, it’s okay, I got it for you,” Mingyu says,

“You can say you were getting them treats and that’s why it took so long,” Wonwoo replies with a convincing smile to which Mingyu gives in.

“I’ll see you at the stage later, yeah?”

“Yeah!” Wonwoo says as Mingyu gives him a smile and wave before he starts running to the school building.

They had spent 20 minutes walking around, and Wonwoo knows the piece is only about 14, if played at its intended tempo. He makes his way back to the show where, sure enough, a new act is on and he settles in a new spot. Wonwoo breathes out slowly before realizing he forgot to get his glasses back from Mingyu, so he relies on his lens to do most of the farsighted seeing.

The emcee, Seungkwan, announces they’re entering their last few acts so Wonwoo decides to let his club know.

Wonwoo: Last few acts are going on stage

Soonyoung: ?

Soonyoung: all at once?

Cheol: Jeonghan-ah remove him from the chat

Wonwoo snorts at his phone, as the other members thank him for letting them know, and Seungcheol says they’ll start making their way in about 10 minutes.

Wonwoo contemplates letting Mingyu know, and figures it wouldn’t hurt to let the final act know where they were in the show.

Jeon Wonwoo: Final leg of the show is starting

Kim Mingyu: Thanks for the heads up!

Kim Mingyu: we’re gathering our gear rn

Kim Mingyu: Oh right

Kim Mingyu: I forgot!

And Mingyu sends a progression of photos that Wonwoo audibly laughs at. It’s 3 selfies of Mingyu wearing Wonwoo’s glasses, but what’s funny is Jihoon at the back, getting closer and angrier as Wonwoo swiped through the photos.

Jeon Wonwoo: You were that late and still took selfies?

Kim Mingyu: Doesn’t Jihoon-hyung look so funny

Jeon Wonwoo: Yes

He admits, a small smile on his face. He swipes through the photos again, focusing on Mingyu this time. He truly is handsome, Wonwoo thinks, and his glasses suit Mingyu better than his self.

Kim Mingyu: I’ll run these to you before we go on

Jeon Wonwoo: Oh no that’s okay, it can wait till after

Kim Mingyu: I want you to be able to watch me

Kim Mingyu: Us

Kim Mingyu: Like the band

Wonwoo snorts at his phone again, startling when he hears a,

“What’re you smiling at?” from over his shoulder and turns to see Jeonghan.

“Why’re you here?” is Wonwoo’s first reaction and Jeonghan laughs.

“You called us here!”

“Yeah, in 10 minutes. Notice how no one else came but you,” and Jeonghan feigns offense,

“Ya, how can you be so mean? I came to check up on you, I even stole you snacks,”

“Oh,”

“Yeah, see how nice I am?”

“No, not that, it’s just I already ate.” And Jeonghan stares at him, narrowing his eyes,

“But I didn’t see you at the stalls,”

“I thought you were stationed at the club booths,”

“I got bored and went to Seungcheol. You didn’t come get food,”

“My friend brought it for me,” Wonwoo says,

“Friend?” Jeonghan thinks then looks at Wonwoo with amused, expectant eyes.

“Oh, your friend, huh?”

“Shouldn’t he be practicing, he’s gonna go on soon,”

“They’re packing up,” and Jeonghan looks at him surprised.

“What?” Wonwoo asks,

“You’re usually more resistant to the teasing,”

“I feel like no matter what I do, you’ll tease anyway, so why not make it easier for myself,” and Jeonghan laughs before patting his back.

“I knew you were a quick learner,” he praises and Wonwoo laughs with him.

A couple more acts go by and the AV members have gathered around Wonwoo, all asking each other how the different areas of the festival are. They agree once the performance is over to join the Tonics and grab food, play games, and take some group photos. Minghao and Wonwoo are going through each others’ cameras when he hears a,

“Jeon Wonwoo!” and Mingyu’s jogging towards them.

It’s a quick exchange that Jeonghan doesn’t even have time to tease. Mingyu quickly hands him his glasses, saying a quick,

“Enjoy the show,” with a smile before running off to join the Tonics in moving their equipment.

Luckily the group is used to Mingyu’s chaos, so they don’t pay it any extra mind, quickly resuming conversation while Jeonghan and Seungcheol share a look.

 

The group sets up to record Tonics set, Seungcheol asking Wonwoo to go a bit closer to the stage, Hansol to the right, and Soonyoung at the very back, just to get various angles. Minghao’s in charge of photos, with assistance from Seungheol and Jeonghan.

The band starts setting up and Wonwoo watches Mingyu assemble his kit, expression serious as each action is done swiftly and naturally. He sits on his kit and starts tapping different parts, adjusting positioning if he has to, and asking the sound techs to increase or lower volume if necessary.

He looks out into the crowd and scans the area, eventually landing on Wonwoo who he greets with a smile and wave. Wonwoo waves back and his lips curl into a smile.

Have fun, Wonwoo mouths and Mingyu’s smile gets wider.

Always! He mouths back, pumping his sticks in the air.

 

“Look at them,” Jeonghan says and Seungcheol laughs,

“Don’t tease.”

“I’m a wingman,” Jeonghan reminds,

“You didn’t even give him the food,” he says,

“Mingyu fed him before I got to him!” Jeonghan defends, adding,

“I’m telling you, they got something going on,”

“God, you sound so lame,” Seungcheol laughs,

“Whatever,” Jeonghan says with a shove before pointing at Mingyu and Wonwoo again.

 

Seokmin is the one who does the opener this time, it’s shorter than the bar performance as they don’t individually introduce themselves, but the response from the crowd is about the same.

Jihoon starts off the song alone, and Wonwoo recognizes it. He meets Mingyu’s eyes and Mingyu gives him a wink before he joins in with the hi-hat, and Wonwoo wonders if it’s lame to smile. He figures he’ll blame it on the song, and tries not to take it personally when Mingyu keeps glancing his way.

Wonwoo taps his foot to the swung rhythm, and he looks at Junhui who’s playing the piano with a smile. One thing Wonwoo has learned listening to Tonics is that mistaken notes can just be turned into transitions, or a key modulation. Not to discredit all their hard work and hours of practice, but Wonwoo can only admire how laid back jazz feels. How fun, free, and liberating is sounds.

His eyes make their way back to Mingyu who’s nose is scrunched as Seokmin plays a solo on his trumpet. He wonders what it’s like to play with people who love music so much. Wonwoo has thought this before, and he will likely continue to feel this way, but Mingyu suits the stage so well.

Wonwoo hopes the stage lights shine on him forever.