Off Key

#42

The week had passed and it was already the day of the talent show.

"Okay, guys, we go on stage after some group named 'Itzy'," Chan said reading the piece of paper he was given from the office.

They were currently behind the stage, seeing all the people enter, but only Chan, Changbin, and Jeongin were there. The rest hadn't arrived yet.

"There's a lot of people Chan.." Jeongin said out loud, shocked by the number of people in the seats. Chan walked over to him, seeing what he was seeing and his jaw dropped.

"Whoa, that's a lot," Chan mumbled. Chan looked over and noticed Jeongin, trying to calm himself down. "Hey," Chan said grabbing Jeongin's hand and pulling him away from the curtains.

"You'll do amazing." He said giving him a warm smile that made Jeongin relax at the sight. "Thank you." He said taking a deep breath.

Chan stood there for a second admiring the younger, getting lost in his thoughts.

"Hey, Chan!" Changbin called out from the other side of the room, interrupting his mind. "You'll do great!" Chan said before walking away from Jeongin, who felt his body relax at the sound of Chan's encouraging words.

"What's up?" He asked Changbin, heading up to him. "Chan, Yeji wants to see you," Changbin said shocking him. "She does?" He questioned curiously. Why?

"Yeah, she's outside the curtain." He said, pointing to the side of the stage. Chan walked down the stairs to meet her.

He opened the curtains seeing her in an outfit, with an unreadable expression on her face.

"You wanted to see me?" He asked making Yeji smile softly. "Yeah, I just wanted to make sure we're okay." She said making Chan a bit confused. "Yes, of course. Why wouldn't we be?" He asked making Yeji slightly sigh.

"Because we're not a team. This is competition, but friendly?" She said making Chan laugh. "Of course. All jokes and fun." He said making Yeji smile and nod her head. "Thanks." She said hugging Chan, who hugged her back.

Yeji left soon after waving Chan goodbye as he did as well. Not knowing someone was watching, who became heartbroken and confused.

~~~

Seungmin, Felix, and Hyunjin arrived with their instruments. "You guys are late," Changbin said, a bit grouchy. Felix noticed Changbin's attitude and ran over to him, running into his arms and jumping onto him.

Felix had his arms around Changbin's neck while his legs were around the older's waist, surprising Changbin. Felix connected their lips, making Changbin even more surprised.

"Forgive me?" He asked making Changbin blush bright red. "I-" Changbin had his words stuck in his throat.

The noise of someone clearing their throat interrupted the couple as they saw Seungmin and Hyunjin look at the two, with unreadable faces.

"If your gonna eat each other's faces, please don't do it here." Jeongin, getting his mic ready, speaking up from the corner, shocking everyone.

Everyone giggled, making Felix a bit shy, and got off of Changbin who started laughing.

Hyunjin noticed something off about Jeongin and decided he was gonna talk to him later.

"Where's Minho and Jisung?" Chan asked walking into the room. The rest looked at each other, realizing they didn't even know they were gone.

"Minho told me he was gonna give Jisung a ride," Hyunjin said.

~~~

"Jisung we have to go!" Minho yelled out pounding on the bathroom door. "I'm almost done!" Jisung yelled back, as he turned off the shower water.

Minho waited by the door, checking the time every second. He saw the doorknob turn and sighed out of relief. "Thank go-" He was interrupted by seeing Jisung's wet body, and hair, while having a towel wrapped around his waist.

"MINHO!" Jisung said covering his chest with his arms. "W-why are you here?!" Jisung said, starting to turn red from embarrassment.

Minho shook his thoughts out his head and tried to remain calm. "I was waiting for you to be done. We're gonna be late." He said. "You could've waited for me downstairs!" Jisung said. "I thought you were gonna change in there!" Minho said.

They both stood there waiting for someone to move. "I-I'm gonna go change," Jisung said leaving the hall and going to his room. Minho felt his face red and went downstairs and waited patiently.

A couple of minutes later, Jisung walked calmly downstairs. As Jisung was about to go to the garage, Minho pulled him and dragged him along with him. "No time, we have to go!" Minho said rushing out the door.

"What time even is it?" Jisung questioned as he looked at his phone. "Oh shit!" He said as he panicked and looked at his phone. "We gotta go." He said suddenly being faster than Minho.

They both hopped in Minho's car and zoomed off.

~~~

"Guys, we're on in 10 minutes! Where were you guys?!" Chan exclaimed at the two who just ran in. "His ass was taking a shower and made us late!" Minho said pointing to an offended Jisung.

Jisung scoffed. "ME?!" He said pointing to himself. "If it wasn't for your slow ass with driving here!" He said making Minho roll his eyes. "Oh shut up! You're worse than me!" He said before Chan shushed the two.

"Guys, we don't have time for arguing. Everyone, get in your places!" Chan yelled out to everyone. The room became nervous and all went to their places, shuffling things around.

"Who ended up being Itzy?" Hyunjin asked as he whispered to Chan. "Oh, uh, Yuna, Chaeryeong, Lia, Ryujin, and Yeji," Chan said shocking everyone who heard.

"Yuna and Chaeryeong?" Felix said shocked. "Ryujin was part of this?" Minho questioned, confused. "Since when does Lia dance?" Seungmin thought to himself. "My sister is the leader?!" Hyunjin said shocked as he started to scroll through his phone to see Itzy getting fans.

"Wow, everyone loves them," Changbin said, on his phone, as well.

"Thank you Itzy, we all enjoyed that dance routine. Next up is Stray Kids!" The principal announced making everyone panic again once they heard their team name.

"Ok, guys we got this!" Chan said, trying to calm everyone's nerves down as they all got in place.

Changbin went over to Felix, kissing him on the cheek. "You'll do great babe." He said as he went back to his spot. Felix on the other hand felt his heart race speed up. Babe?!

The loud cheers were heard by everyone outside the curtains.

Jisung took a deep breath, in and out. Minho took notice of this and called Jisung's name silently. The younger turned around to see Minho mouth the words 'fighting' which made him calm down a bit. He mouthed the words back with a smile making the older smile in return.

"Is everyone ready?" Hyunjin asked, seeing everyone in their positions as they nodded their heads. "Chan, we're ready," Seungmin said.

Chan nodded his head and signaled the staff to open the curtains.

"Are you ready?!"

J: sorry for the very late update. My phone broke and I was out of town so I couldn't get it fixed but I'm back.