His hands are trembling. Jaebum clenches and unclenches them a few times as he mentally goes over the lyrics and choreography for the tenth time. He’s practised the routine no less than a thousand times in the weeks leading up to tonight, but bits and pieces of it keep slipping out of his mind. He moves to wipe his clammy hands down his trousers, but stops as he recalls the stylists stressing how important it is for his stage clothes to stay pristine. He rubs his hands together instead, freezing as he feels moisture gather on his forehead. His eyes go crossed as he watches a bead of sweat slowly roll down his nose. He should probably blot it before the makeup that was carefully applied to him is ruined, but he doesn’t trust himself not to smudge it with his hands so out of control. He blinks as a napkin is brought to his face.

“Nervous?’ Jinyoung smiles knowingly.

Jaebum just releases a long breath in reply. As the leader and the older one, he really should be setting a better example, but a debut stage is uncharted territory for him as well. Right now, Jaebum wants nothing more than to grab fistfuls of his hair and pull until his painstakingly styled hairdo is lying in tuffs on the floor of their waiting room, but he can see the corners of Jinyoung’s lips shaking.

“Eh, just the usual pre-performance jitters,” Jabeum shrugs.

“Yeah, me too,” Jinyoung winces as his voice cracks slightly.

“Hey, it’s normal to be nervous, anyone who isn’t even the least bit concerned before a debut is either brain-dead or just doesn’t give a ,” Jaebum says consolingly as he places a hand on the younger boy’s shoulder. “We just have to make sure we channel that nervous energy into making our performance as lively as possible. We’ve worked so hard these past two years; this is our moment, Jinyoung.”

Jinyoung grins, the skin at the corner of his eyes crinkling, “We’re born performers, you and I; we’re gonna smash this,” Jabeum’s heart rate somehow feels like it slows and quickens as Jinyoung lifts his hand to cover the one Jaebum still has on his shoulder.

“Right,” Jaebum says in a breathy voice. He removes his hand from Jinyoung’s shoulder and turns it to catch and squeezes the younger boy’s hand in return.

 Their manager calls them and they’re quickly ushered onto the darkened stage. He can see the silhouettes of the audience shifting restlessly in front of him, can hear the sounds of their breathing and low whispers, can feel their gazes piercing his lowered head…

“Let’s do this,” Jinyoung says under his breath as he gives Jaebum’s shoulder a discreet squeeze. Jabeum's lips quirk up.

The stage lights flash and the music plays.