Sungyeol’s eyes fluttered open. Sunggyu’s alarm was blaring throughout the entire room. He groaned, hoping that Sunggyu would wake up soon and turn it off. He was sure that Myungsoo wouldn’t wake up. ’Man In Love’ continued to play on repeat for a few minutes before Sungyeol decided that he hated their new title song and rolled off his bed. He rubbed his eyes, finally opening them to look for Sunggyu.

            Sunggyu was still sleeping, a pillow on his head. His earphones were playing a song by Nell, and it was so loud that once Sungyeol turned off Sunggyu’s alarm, he could hear the music from the other side of the room.

            Woohyun could probably hear it from his room, Sungyeol thought, rolling his eyes as he made his way across the room to wake the leader up. He checked the clock. 5AM. They’d have to go to the salon soon. He stood in front of Sunggyu’s bed but hesitated.

            Despite the loud music, Sunggyu looked so peaceful.

            He decided to wake up the leader last that day.

***

            Myungsoo leaned on Sungyeol’s shoulder in the car, still sleepy. He wasn’t ready to go get his hair and makeup done. He just wanted to sleep for a day and get back to life as an idol tomorrow.

            The promotions for ‘Man In Love’ weren’t as easy as everyone else thought it was. Everyone knew that an idol’s life was hard, but if they actually know how difficult it was, Myungsoo doubted he’d see so many trainees everywhere. He glanced up at Sungyeol, who was used to Myungsoo’s morning skin ship longings.

            Sungyeol was looking outside the car, smiling.   

            “Why are you smiling Yeol? It’s too early in the morning to be so happy.”

            Sungyeol looked down at the younger on his shoulder and grinned.

“One of my fans is outside!” he chirped, “It’s not just yours and Woohyun’s fans today, there’s one of mine too!”

            Myungsoo closed his eyes again when Sungyeol turned back to the window. Sungyeol waved at his one fan that was outside this early in the morning. He heard Sungyeol’s fan squeal and scream an ‘I love you’. After that, the sound of Sungyeol’s own laughter filled his ears.

            Myungsoo smiled as he snuggled closer to Sungyeol’s body. He always did like the way Sungyeol appreciated his fans. He loved every single one of them, even if there was only one. He was suddenly reminded of one of the reasons why people trained to be an idol in the first place.

            “Lee Sungyeol, I love you!” he heard coming from outside.

            “I love you too! Be careful outside there, ok?” Sungyeol screamed out.

            Myungsoo let out a soft chuckle.

            Maybe there would still be a bunch of trainees everywhere.

***

            “Stop being so greasy!” Sungyeol shrieked.

            Woohyun laughed and proceeded to throw another heart at him, soon bringing the younger into a hug.

            “Geez Woohyun. I thought it was only Myungsoo who was obsessed with skin ship.” Sungyeol said, unable to escape from Woohyun’s arms. When it came to skin ship, it was usually Myungsoo and Dongwoo at the top—lately, Woohyun was making his way up the list.         

            He tried to get out of Woohyun’s grasp, but Woohyun just hugged him tighter. He felt something pressing against his chest, and when he glanced down he realized that he could notice the elder’s ribs.

            He’s gotten skinnier, Sungyeol suddenly thought. He glanced down at Woohyun again, worried. However, Woohyun just smiled and let go of Sungyeol, throwing another heart at him as he goes to get his hair and makeup done for the day. Woohyun didn’t even seem to notice that his ribs stuck out when he took a breath in.

***

            “It’s Infinite!”

            “Look over here!”

            “I love you!”

            “Good luck today!”

            That’s what Sungyeol heard as they made their way to record for Music Bank. The cheers for the performance were almost deafening, making all of the members smile. Sungyeol got really happy when they chanted his name after his part in ‘Still I Miss You’. He truly appreciated his fans, even if he was still one of the least popular members.

            Most of the signs are for Myungsoo, Woohyun, and Hoya, but he was okay with it. He had those two fans in the middle of the crowd with his banner. They scream the loudest when he sings, and so he sang with a smile. It was times like this when he didn’t actually mind so much being so “unpopular”. At least his fans were the loudest.

***

            When the performance was over, they got into the car to head to an interview. Sungyeol sat in the back between Woohyun and Myungsoo. Woohyun layed his head on Sungyeol’s shoulder, trying to get in as much sleep as possible, not caring whether his hair and makeup got messed up. The cordi noonas can fix it before the interview.

            He was comfortable. His hair was no longer damp from the performance because of the cold outside, and he was finally back in his sweats. He had his jacket on, and the shoes he was wearing didn’t have insoles, and they just felt so good. He was comfortable in his practice clothes, and he was comfortable with Sungyeol by his side.

            They can fix everything before the interview.

***

            Myungsoo took a hold of Sungyeol’s hand and started to play with his fingers. He could feel the soft yet somehow rough fingers against his, bumps and shivers where each and every one of the other’s rings were.

            Sungyeol had an obsession with rings lately. There had been an infection on his ear so he had to get rid of all of his piercings. The news had saddened Sungyeol to the point where he was just staring at his old earrings on the table. He had gotten so used to wearing them.

            Myungsoo played with Sungyeol’s left ring finger and smiled. There was only one ring on this finger, unlike all of the others. It was the one that Myungsoo had given to him. He didn’t like seeing Sungyeol moping around because he couldn’t wear his multiple earrings anymore because he know that Sungyeol worried that he would no longer be noticed.      

Myungsoo had given him one of his old rings that day.

            “Here,” Myungsoo said, taking off his favorite ring and setting it on the table next to the earrings Sungyeol was staring at.

            “What’s this?” Sungyeol asked, looking up, wondering what his best friend was doing.

            “It’s a ring, idiot. Since it’s harder for your fingers to get infected, you should obsess with these instead of those earrings. Nothing’s going to come out of you moping over not being able to wear them anymore.”

            Myungsoo paused for a moment, taking a look at Sungyeol before staring back at the ground.

            “It’ll look good on you. You’ll still be special.”

            Myungsoo smiled at the memory. He was happy that Sungyeol had listened to him. Though he missed the multiple piercings that Sungyeol had, he was happy to see Sungyeol’s smile back, even though it only had disappeared for a few hours that day. He continued to play with the ring that he had given Sungyeol. He leaned against him.

            “I like these. The new ones that you got are nice.”

            Sungyeol looked down at the younger that was playing with his hands and beamed. “Really?”

            Myungsoo closed his eyes, hoping that the interviewer asks about them, smiled and whispered, “Yeah, really.”