August 3rd 2014

If there was one thing that Acid Teochii was thankful for about not being a popular group, it was the fact that they were very rarely recognised in airports. Every now and again they’d get the odd recognition, the odd mutter, or a few fans hurrying over to them, but it was rare, nothing like the crowds that the members of EXO needed to be dragged through by their managers, or the big fan meets that their sunbaenims ended up having in airports… it was quiet, especially at midnight on a Sunday morning.

In the waiting area of this particular airport in Tokyo, where they had been going to visit Marco and Sherlock’s parents as a group for the first time, as well as doing the odd radio show here and there for their comeback, they were the only people there. The 11 members of Acid Teochii and their manager, Namjoon, waited for their flight back to South Korea ready for their comeback stage the next day, and then they got a short break performance wise until the 8th of August where they were performing on Music Bank. Which, of course, as always with their luck, their flight had been delayed.

Namjoon sat cross-legged with a laptop balanced between his knees, his teeth worrying his bottom lip as he typed. Myung paced, his thick framed glasses hiding how red and tired his eyes were. Ae-Cha and Cho sat in a corner, mumbling between themselves over who knows what, while Hyo and Marco sat together, Hyo reading a Chinese book while Marco peered over his shoulder at the symbols that had no meaning to anyone else other than Jin, who was dozing off with his ear buds in, a peaceful Yiruma song helping him drift into a doze. Sherlock was sat alone, running his fingers through Watson’s short fur while taking the working dog’s coat off, allowing him off duty for the time being; Hanni sat in the chair closest to him while scrolling through his instagram feed on his phone. Yuuki sat beside Namjoon, silent for once with smudged eyeliner, his hair messily tied on top of his head and usual dark lipstick nowhere to be seen. Finally, Vann was curled into a small ball on two of the chairs, snoring lightly.

Each member was trapped in their own little world, sticking with their closest friends in their colleagues or alone, that was of course until Namjoon sighed.

“Guys, it’s officially midnight, the music video is going to be up any second.” He told them, rubbing his eye with the back of his hand. Namjoon looked a mess recently, the build up of schedules for the group of teens and young adults piling on top of the manager who got even less sleep than they did while making sure everything was alright. Myung was looking forward to the comeback promotions being over so their manager could have a break.

The members rushed over to crowd around Namjoon and the laptop, Yuuki yanking the earphones out of Jin’s ears hard enough to snap him out of the half asleep daze he’d fallen into and Cho gently shaking Vann awake and explaining why she had done when he glared at her.

The members had filmed their music video for their first ever comeback the week before leaving for Japan, but they had never been shown the final product after it had been put together with editing and the music had been added.

Today is the Day was the title track of their new mini album, the song being about their journey so far, hoping to inspire people to follow their dreams because there was no time like the present… Hanni had written the lyrics for the song after some convincing that the lyrical poems he often jotted down just while day dreaming during the day were good, and that if he really wanted to, he could write more songs for the band in the future.

After reading the draft for the song, Han Soosung had agreed and decided that Today is the Day would be the title track. Hanni thought he was going to die of a heart attack when Namjoon had told him the news. Now, on top of his usual schedules and trying to find the time to secretly go out on dates with Jimin, Hanni was taking lessons to improve his song writing.

“It’s up.” Namjoon announced before clicking the icon on their subscriptions on YouTube, opening up the video. Every member held their breath as the music started.

The group had never been together while so silent, all eyes glued to the screen as the music video played. Even while they were catching the few hours of sleep they got daily, there was always some sort of sound, whether it be snoring, muttering, or even humming in their sleep… but right now, all 11 members of the rookie group watched in complete silence.

The music video drew to a close, the ending shot being of Hanni looking into a bunch of roses with a smile while stood at a door. His fist rose to knock… as his knuckles connected with the door on the screen, the scene faded to black, the song ending.

Almost instantly, life came back to the group, Ae-Cha and Yuuki grabbing hold of each other’s forearms and beginning to jump, screaming happily at the top of their lungs, all previous exhaustion forgotten. Myung covered his face, placing his glasses onto his hair so they didn’t steam up with the tears building in his eyes. Sherlock grabbed hold of Watson, burying his face into the puppy’s fur as Watson’s tail wagged frantically; confused as to what exactly was happening but knowing it was something to be happy over. Vann clasped his hand on Namjoon’s shoulder in congratulations, their manager seeming a bit overwhelmed. Acid Teochii were the first group he’d ever managed after all. Cho knelt down, burying her face into Sherlock’s back in a bid to stop her own tears from falling, attempting to stop the squeals of excitement and delight escaping her lips. Hanni grabbed hold of Jin’s arms, telling him over and over again that “That’s my song, I wrote that, it’s on YouTube”, in disbelief, while Jin laughed slightly and petted the younger’s hair in an attempt to calm the stunned boy. Marco held a blubbering Hyo, playing with the long hair that had been taken down from its usual braid, laughing slightly as the older sobbed while muttering a mix between Chinese and broken Korean, trying to make sense of the words, before eventually giving up although tears sparked in his own eyes. Hope stayed where he was, leaning over Namjoon’s shoulder, still staring at the screen in disbelief as their manager refreshed the page, playing the video again while checking the view count. It had stuck at 301 views.

“Hello?” A small voice asked in Japanese, snapping Cho from her light tears into Sherlock’s back, the others one by one silencing to look over at the source of the new, respectful voice that hadn’t been heard before. A boy stood, he couldn’t have been older than 13, maybe 14 at most. He sat in a wheelchair, watching the group with wide brown eyes as his parents and a girl around his age stood behind him. “Are you Acid Teochii?” He asked, blushing bright red now that he had everyone’s attention. His fingers picked at the nasal cannula that ran from his nose to an oxygen tank strapped to the back of his chair, looking everywhere but at the group now.

Yuuki quickly turned away, pulling his hair out of the messy ponytail and rubbing at his face with his left hand while searching through his bag with his right, desperately trying to find a mirror and some makeup to fix his appearance before the kid saw him. It was too late of course, he’d already been seen in his natural, haggard state, but Yuuki didn’t really seem to realise that putting on makeup now wouldn’t make a difference.

Cho sniffed slightly, wiping at her face and giving the chair-bound boy a watery smile. “Y-yeah,” she cleared of the thickness caused by her happy tears. “We are. Are you a fan?”

The boy just nodded slightly, still avoiding meeting her gaze.

Cho stood, walking towards where the boy sat before kneeling in front of him, placing her gentle hand on his knee, gently rubbing the joint soothingly. “It’s okay, you know. We don’t bite, we’re not angry with you for coming up to us. Would you like to tell us your name?”

“Kawaguchi Aiko,” He mumbled shyly, slowly looking up to meet Cho’s gentle gaze.

“Nice to meet you Aiko-kun,” She smiled, turning to the others. “Come say hi guys, don’t be mean. Aiko-kun,” she addressed the small Japanese boy while the others slowly left Namjoon and the laptop, kneeling around the wheelchair. “Do you have a bias?”

Aiko flushed bright red, looking straight back down to the floor as the tips of his ears turned red.

Marco laughed slightly at the boy, smiling gently. “Don’t be shy. We know that the chances are 10 to 1 for us being your bias, you don’t have to be shy, none of our feelings will get hurt, and I promise you that.” He told him in Japanese, thankful that he was in his home country and therefore felt more comfortable. Although Marco’s Korean was fluent, he never quite felt as though he was good enough with the language to interact with fans.

“A-Are you sure?” Aiko stuttered, slowly glancing back up. Myung smiled at him.

“We’re sure.”

Aiko flushed again, rubbing at his red hot cheeks. “Um…my bias is Sherlock-kun…”

Sherlock jumped slightly at hearing his name along with the honorific he was no longer used to due to living in Korea. Blinking slightly, his hand stopped its soothing motions through Watson’s fur. “M-me?” He asked in disbelief. “Are you sure?”

Aiko mumbled under his breath in agreement while the girl smiled towards the blind boy.

“You’re an inspiration to my twin brother,” She told him while grinning. “You’ve been his favourite from the start. A disabled idol? I’m surprised you’re not everyone’s bias! Aiko-kun can’t breathe very well, he can’t walk very well either because he gets out of breath too easily, but you make him smile! For that, I’m eternally grateful!”

“A-Airi!” Aiko stuttered, smacking the closest part of his sister, which just happened to be her hip. “D-don’t tell him that!”

“Why not?” She replied, grinning the whole time. “It’s the truth after all!”

“A-Aiko-kun,” Sherlock stuttered through a smile, wiping at his still teary eyes. “Thank you, it means so much to me… Here, Namjoon-hyung, can we borrow the camera?”

“I only have the Polaroid with me right now, Sherlock.”  Namjoon responded from where he still sat with the laptop as he began rooting through the backpack he had with him.

“Even better,” Sherlock responded, before putting Watson into the waiting Cho’s arms and kneeling beside the chair, giving his biggest grin as Myung took the camera from Namjoon.

“Smile for the camera, Aiko-kun.” Sherlock said, resting his own head against Aiko’s and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. Once Sherlock had heard the snap of the camera, he pulled away, but the smile never left his face. “Here,” he said, taking the Polaroid from Myung with ease along with the sharpie Hyo was readily handing him. Uncapping the marker, Sherlock felt around the edges of the Polaroid, finding the centre, before signing it the best he could. “How’s that?”

“I-it’s perfect,” Aiko stuttered, his voice thick. Sherlock’s smile dropped.

“W-what’s wrong? Did I do something wrong? Have I upset you? I’m sorry!” He stumbled over his words, flinching away from Aiko in fear that he’d hurt the younger boy.

“N-no! No, you didn’t! I’m sorry! I’m just…I’m so happy.” Aiko told him, reaching forward and prying the signed Polaroid from Sherlock’s fingers, holding it close to his chest. “Thank you.”

Sherlock smiled again, wiping at his eyes. “No, thank you, Aiko-kun. Make sure you watch our comeback stages, okay? You’re the first fan I met that biases me… honestly, I can’t thank you enough. Stay strong, okay kiddo? Nothing can knock us down.”

Aiko smiled through his tears. “Right, stay strong, got it.”

“I wish I had something else I could give you in thank you, but I don’t think we have any albums with us, and management wouldn’t be very happy with me… just, know this. If I can make it through all my obstacles, you can too. Never give up.”

“Boarding now: Tokyo to Seoul. Please make your way over to the plane.”

Sherlock sighed slightly, running a hand through his messy, unstyled hair. “That’s us, we have to go. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you so much,” Aiko said again, stuttering through his tears.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sherlock smiled, ruffling Aiko’s hair gently with ease, having no problems finding the young teenager’s head. “Have fun on your holiday and make sure you all get some sleep!”

Namjoon made his way over, whispering to Sherlock that they really needed to go.

“Alright, sorry Manager-hyung. I’ll see you around, okay Aiko-kun? Us Japanese have to stick together!”

“Acid Teochii, fighting!” Aiko told him in heavily accented Korean.

Sherlock smiled as he turned away, waving slightly.

“Acid Teochii, fighting.”

If only the happiness Sherlock felt in that moment could last forever. 

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Hey guys! Just a quick update while I'm sat at my nans stealing her wifi, I wrote this last night because I'm currently internet-less due to building going on in my house right now!

I hope you enjoyed my happy chapter! Next up is the comeback!