Strawberry Milk - The Bonus Sips

Chan.

    - Current day, 2024 -

Backstage was bustling with people. Chan had to make himself as small as he could to squeeze through them all, barely able to hear himself think over the multiple voices in his ears. After running around for what felt like forever, he finally saw who he was searching for, standing close to the stage entrance.

"Brian!" He yelled, but Brian couldn't hear over the noise from both backstage and the crowd. "Brian!" Chan shouted again, getting closer. "Brain!"

The man looked up from where he was tuning his bass. "Hey, what's up?" He asked as he took out his earpiece to listen to Chan. "Is Lix almost ready? We go on after the next supporting act and I haven't seen him in a while."

"He's just talking to Jeongin. He'll be out in a minute. You remember his plan though, right? The important thing before the encore."

"Of course, I remember," Brian said, returning to messing with his bass. "All the guys know and we've kept it a secret. Don't worry."

"Ok," Chan let out a deep breath. "Ok... I think I've sorted everything I can back here. I'm going to join Hyunjin and Minho in the crowd. Have you seen them at all?"

Brain chuckled as he put his earpiece back in. "Yep, I think everyone has seen them. They're in the front row. Hyunjin seems a bit drunk."

"Jesus Christ," Chan muttered under his breath, taking that as his opportunity to leave the backstage area and join the crowd. It wasn't easy to push through the crowd to the barricade. He spotted Minho, who waved him over with his hand in the air. The people he passed didn't look impressed that someone was pushing through, so he held up his 'backstage' lanyard in hopes they'd think he was trying to get to the front for staff-related reasons.

"It's fucking busy here, eh?" He said once he reached Minho and Hyunjin, standing behind the pair. "Pretty sure I've just successfully made everyone hate my guts by cutting in here."

"They'll get over it. Did you have to cut past Seungmin?" Minho asked, to which Chan turned his head around to check.

"I hope not. Why? Have you seen him?"

"Yeah, he's like five rows behind us."

Chan turned around again, more subtle this time. He still couldn't see him anywhere. He shrugged and looked back at the two in front of him. "Can't see him. Maybe he moved."

"It'd be pretty awkward if not," Hyunjin giggled, and his words were so slurred that Chan could barely make them out at first.

"Fucking hell. How much has he had to drink?"

"Too much," Minho muttered with a bite to his words. He had to grab Hyunjin's forearm to stop him from stumbling into the girls beside them. "This is embarrassing. Can you stop swaying all over the place?" Minho said in a hushed voice.

"Oh, yeah, because all I am is an embarrassment to you," Hyunjin responded, about ten times louder than Minho had. He threw his arms up and knocked Minho's cup of beer, the liquid sloshing over the side.

"That's not what I said," Minho responded, taking a gulp of the drink before Hyunjin could accidentally knock any more of it out of his hands. "Can you please stop acting like this? We're supposed to be here to support Felix's band, not argue. This is ridiculous, it's in the past!"

If Hyunjin responded to Minho, Chan didn't hear him because his wandering eyes had finally landed on Seungmin. He was standing about three rows back, off to Chan's left, nearly in the centre of the crowd. He should have blended in. Nothing about him particularly stuck out, but everything about him stuck out to Chan. His hair was a lot shorter than it had been the last time Chan had seen him. His big eyes were fixed on the stage, and Chan couldn't be sure if Seungmin had even noticed him. He wore a baby blue jumper that was way too big for him, so it likely belonged to someone else, and his fingers clutched the cross around his neck. Chan wanted to look away, but it was too late. Seungmin's head turned and their eyes met.