‘Oppa!’

‘Oppa! Yo Seob oppa!’

‘Oppa, look here!’

‘Yo Seob oppa hwaiting!’

‘Yo Seob oppa hwaiting! Caffeine daebak!’

Cheers and screams assaulted Yo Seob’s ears the moment he stepped out of the van. He smiled and waved at the fans that were there to give him support before hurrying towards the recording venue. He was nervous today, but it wasn’t surprising. Today, he was going to be standing on the stage alone, without the others beside him. Without the strength of his brothers to rely on when he messed up. Without his baby with him on stage to anchor him.

‘Yo Seobie? Come on, let’s go now.’ Yo Seob’s head shot up. His manager was beckoning to him. He had stopped walking and drifted off while waiting for his manager to catch up to him.

‘Uh? Yeah.’ He blinked and answered. When he approached the fans near the entrance, cheers of encouragement and well wishes rang out. It might be hard on the ears, but he wouldn’t change anything for the world. He waved and smiled to the fans who had taken time to come and see him.

His manager ushered him into the building, and his stylists rushed get him prepped up. He had his rehearsal in an hour and he had his hair and make-up yet to do. After a flurry of activity, he was finally ready to present Yang Yo Seob the soloist. The stage crew called for him to start his rehearsal, and he finally stepped onto the stage. He felt a pang, standing there on the stage without his boys, but he just have to get used to that.

His rehearsal went by smoothly. His condition was alright and the backstage system was fine. The only thing that wasn’t fine was his heart. On top of anxiety for his stage later, there was also anticipation. There was somebody he was waiting for. Just as if said person knew what he was thinking, his phone rang with the arrival of a text message.

                From: Dongie~

                Hyung~ Hwaiting for later! Yang Yo Seob is the best, so I’ll congratulate you first!

He grinned when he read the text. His mood immediately lifted, and he felt ready for anything. Yep, a little message like that had the ability to elevate his mood to that state. The group’s baby, his baby, was one of the only few to have that ability. Smiling to himself, he pocketed his phone.

A couple more performances and it would be his turn. He knew Jun Hyung and some of the parents would be there to watch him. His mother had called him to say that they were going to be there to support him and wished him success. Doo Jun was overseas in Hungary so he couldn’t be there, though he was there for one of his pre-recordings before. Hyun Seung was in Hong Kong for MAMA. Ki Kwang was somewhere and Dong Woon had his musical practice to attend, so Yo Seob didn’t expect him to come. Though he selfishly wished the maknae could be there. But he knew how much that musical meant to Dong Woon, so he was satisfied with that little text just now.

He went over to the side curtains and peeked out into the crowd. One group was performing on stage currently, and his was after the next. It was dark, and he couldn’t see much, but his fans could. They spotted him and screamed his name. He waved and went backstage. He didn’t spot where Junnie and the parents were at, but he knew they would be there.

The current performance ended, and his manager cued him to get ready. His stylists did a final touch up on him and he went to the waiting area. He took a couple of deep breaths, and readied himself. He was startled when his phone rang in his back pocket. He had forgotten to leave it with his manager just now. It was a text message, and he opened it up, curious.

                From: Dongie~

                Hyung! I’ll watch your stage well, so you must also do well! Hwaiting~

Wait wait wait,what?! His baby is here? Wasn’t he supposed to be at practice? Although his eyes were wide with surprise, his lips unconsciously tilted upwards in a happy smile. He sobered soon enough though. His manager grabbed his phone out of his hands and gave him a little nudge in the direction of the curtains. The current performance was ending soon. Standing at the sides, he cleared his mind of everything but his music, waiting for his cue. Once the last of the group went offstage, a voice cued him in his headset, counting down the seconds till his music started playing.

Dong Woon was watching the performance along with the audience. He was sitting with Jun Hyung and the parents, waiting for Yo Seob to finally take the stage. He was wearing shades. He had absolutely no reason to wear them in the dark interior of the recording venue, but he wore them anyways. He had gotten up earlier than usual because he pushed his practice schedule up in order to make time to attend Seobie’s stage that day. He knew his eye bags would be horrible. He didn’t have much sleep, but to him, watching Yo Seob was more important than a few hours of sleep. He came straight from practice, so he was lugging around his notes and scripts as he forgot to leave them in the car.

He tried to keep his yawns in while watching the other performers, but from the glances Jun Hyung shot him, he wasn’t exactly doing a good job. He knew Yo Seob was due to perform around 6.20 p.m. and he still had a little more than half an hour. He leaned onto Jun Hyung, and tried to nap without being too obvious about it. Jun Hyung shot a glance at him and resumed talking with one of the parents. Jun Hyung woke him up when the performers before Yo Seob was started their performance. He removed his shades and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes but a gentle hand on his stopped his vigorous rubbing. He smiled sheepishly at Hyun Seung’s eomma before asking how she was doing. He shot another text to Yo Seob, grinning as he imagined his hyung’s reaction. He didn’t tell Yo Seob that he was going, and he knew Yo Seob assumed he wouldn’t be there. He could just imagine the smile of delight spreading across his baby’s face. He chuckled to himself just thinking about it. Soon enough, the stage crew was preparing the stage for Caffeine and the B2uties was readying their rose light stick for Yo Seob.

The crowd screamed as Yo Seob took to the stage with his four back up dancers. Dong Woon couldn’t stop his grin as he saw his baby’s stage wear. Man, did he appreciate the stylists! The starting strain of Caffeine came on, and the crown hushed. The rose light sticks of B2uties was shining unwaveringly amongst the crowd, colourful placards with Yo Seob’s name was waving high in the air. All Dong Woon could do was to glue his eyes to the man on stage, anticipating the moment he would part his lips and the angelic voice flow out. His baby looked grown up today, even with the eternal baby face of his. He released the breath he didn’t know he held when Yo Seob finally sang. He tried hard not to close his eyes, tried to keep them open to look at his hyung. He was glad Yo Seob probably couldn’t see him. He didn’t know if he could take it. So rarely were he the one to be in the audience looking up into the stage, and he now understood why so many fans love Yo Seob. He was simply breathtaking.

Dong Woon was mesmerized by the man on stage, unable to tear his eyes away from him even if he wanted to. Soon, the ending verses approached. Somehow or another, Yo Seob found him among the crowd. Somehow or another, their eyes met. Dong Woon could feel the impact even through his shades. It was like a punch to the gut, his breath left his lungs when he looked into the eyes of his lover on stage. The last strain of Caffeine faded away, and Dong Woon could only stare as the crowd clapped around him. Dong Woon only snapped out of it when Jun Hyung nudged him and he clapped with everyone else.

As soon as Yo Seob left the stage, Dong Woon pulled out his phone and shot another text.

                To: Yo Seobie hyung~

                Wah! Daebak, daebak! Yang Yo Seob daebak! Hyung you did so well! Muacks!

He sent the message when his senses tingled and he felt something near his face. He turned and jumped when he saw Jun Hyung’s face beside his.

‘Yah! Hyung! What the heck?!’

‘I’m the Joker.’ Jun Hyung whispered into his ears and turned away.

‘What the…  Why is he still doing that… I thought he was over that already…’ Dong Woon grumbled. He couldn’t wait to finally be with his hyung. He willed the show to hurry up and be done already, earning a cuff from Jun Hyung for fidgeting in his seat.

Back in the dorm, Dong Woon and Yo Seob were lounging on the couch, with the television showing some drama. Jun Hyung was out somewhere with Haw hyung, Ki Kwang was nowhere to be found. Doo Jun and Hyun Seung were still overseas. They weren’t able to catch Troublemaker’s performance on MAMA but they knew they won the Best Collaboration Award. Now, it was just the two of them in the dorm.

‘Woonie?’

‘Hmmm?’

‘Didn’t you have practice?’ Yo Seob finally had time to ask. They went out to celebrate after the show just now and only just returned.

‘Yeah.’  

‘And?’

‘And what?’ Dong Woon raised an eyebrow.

‘You still came?’

‘Of course.’

Arms enveloped him in a hug, and he turned to see a delighted smile on Yo Seob’s face. Seeing that smile, he was glad he made it just now.

‘Thank you.’ Yo Seob cuddled into Dong Woon’s sides.

‘For what? I should be there for you. After all, you are my baby, aren’t you?’ Dong Woon chuckled, looking down into Yo Seob’s baby face.

‘I’m still your hyung, ya know.’ Yo Seob pulled back, mock pouting.

‘Sure, Hyung~’ Dong Woon replied cheekily.

Yo Seob wrinkled his nose at him, before relenting and dropping back on onto Dong Woon. He sighed as Dong Woon’s strong arms wrapped around him. He rested his head on Dong Woon’s chest, feeling the strong thumps of his heart, grateful he was there.

‘I love you, baby maknae.’

‘I love you too, baby hyung.’ Dong Woon knew his hyung would be pouting right then, but all he did was chuckle. Soon enough, another chuckle accompanied him. The two of them fell into an easy silence on the couch, letting their actions speak for themselves.

[a/n: hey guys. here is one of the one shots. did you like it? i dont think it came out as well as i wanted it to.. it feels weird to me. this is crappy... sighs... but whatever. :D heheh. comments pleash? O_O kekeke i still hope you guys like this thing though, despite the crappyness... X_X MUAHAHAHAHA im sleepy...]