more i feel it, more i need it (1/2)
pairing: luhan/sehun
rating: NC-17
warnings: alcohol/drug use, sex under the influence
wordcount: 20k
summary: Band!AU. Sehun doesn’t like the new opener, or their weird indie sound, and especially not their annoying vocalist.
notes: written for selubration, originally posted here!!! wassup longest exo fic i’ve ever written, wassup vintage otp, wassup band au i’ve always wanted to write ;;;; when i got this prompt i literally punched the air i was so stoked T v T enjoy~
in the original post comments there were several people who said that this fic helped them be a little less sad about luhan leaving. i hope it can be that way for others as well ♡
“Bad news,” Chanyeol says, shutting the door behind himself and shrugging off his jacket. “Chaser just bailed.”
Sehun looks up, hands stilling on the neck of his guitar resting over his lap. “You’re joking.”
Chanyeol strides further into the room, shaking his head. “No jokes, they’re on their way back to Busan as we speak.”
Baekhyun groans, pressing his hands over his face and leaning back into the couch. “What the fuck, seriously?”
Frowning, Jongin stands up from his spot on the floor beside Sehun. “Did they say why?”
“Not really, something about getting a better deal?” Chanyeol scrubs a hand over his face. “Howon hung up before I could get a word in, and didn’t answer when I called back.”
Sehun sighs, tipping his head back against the wall. “Of course not, that would’ve made our lives too easy.” Howon had always been a prick.
“They know the gig is tomorrow, right?” Jongin asks slowly. “Did they not think about how high and dry they just left us?”
Chanyeol shrugs helplessly. “I guess it was really important.”
“Yeah, important enough that they called you instead of our manager,” Baekhyun scoffs. He sits up straighter, crossing his arms. “I bet they didn’t pay us back what we gave them up front, either.”
“Whatever,” Sehun says, shrugging. “It’s not that much of a loss.”
“Excuse me?” Baekhyun splutters, staring at him incredulously. “In what way is losing our opening band not a loss?”
“I’m just saying,” Sehun huffs. “They were jerks from the beginning. We shouldn’t be playing shows with them, anyway.”
Baekhyun clenches his hands into fists, glaring at him. “You’re missing the point.”
“Chaser did us a favour by dropping out,” Sehun says. “The point is, now we don’t have to deal with a shitty opener like them.”
“No, the point is we don’t have an opener anymore!” Baekhyun snaps. He presses the heels of his palms over his eyes, letting out an angry breath. “Can you please pretend to care about the rest of us for, like, two seconds?”
Sehun glares at him, opening his mouth to snarl something back, but Chanyeol steps in between them. “Leave it,” he says pleadingly. “You can fight later, now isn’t the time.”
“We have a little over twenty-four hours to find an opener for tomorrow night,” Jongin says, running a hand through his hair. “Plus a way to pay them.”
“Plus someone has to call Junmyeon to let him know,” Chanyeol adds, “and it isn’t gonna be me.”
--
Despite the stress and flimsy plans and general instability that comes with the job, Sehun really does like being in a band. The feeling of elation that comes with being on stage, with connecting to the audience and sending a message, is something he wouldn’t trade for the world.
Black Pearl had come a long way since their beginnings in Chanyeol’s dad’s garage and any club that would have them, and even though they’ve only been bandmates for a few years, the other three are (as uncomfortable as it is for Sehun to say out loud) his closest friends. They’d been together for some important milestones, after all - Chanyeol buying his first car, Sehun’s first legal drink, Baekhyun’s month-long laryngitis, that time Jongin almost dropped his bass down the service stairs, and, of course, their record deal and all that came with Black Pearl being signed.
It was the best and most terrifying rollercoaster Sehun had ever been on, and it ended with their album in the top 20 and enough profit to move out of the tiny apartment the four of them had somehow crammed themselves into. Junmyeon, their new manager, recommended that they continue living together to promote team-bonding, which they weren’t so sure of at first - Sehun still isn’t so sure about it, having been woken up countless times by Baekhyun’s perfectly on-pitch shower singing or, sometimes, Chanyeol’s sleep-drumming - but everything else Junmyeon told them had been right, so they moved into their four-bedroom sort-of-soundproof new home.
There are downsides, like sleep disturbances, and Sehun definitely fights with Baekhyun the most, but at the end of the day, there’s no one Sehun would rather stand on stage with than the three boys that helped create the best thing that’s ever happened to him. All he wants is to rise higher with them - and they had been rising, recently, Black Pearl’s popularity increasing enough so that Sehun thought they were past the days of scrambling to cover the cost of booking venues or, as in this case, to find a decent band to hype up the crowd before their timeslot.
But here they are, spread out on the floor with Junmyeon pacing through the living room to the kitchen and back again as they all wrack their brains for local, available, trustworthy bands.
“We didn’t play that many shows with Chaser, did we?” Baekhyun sighs, rolling over onto his back and glaring up at the ceiling. “Who opened for us before them?”
“Mr. Simple, I think,” Chanyeol says, turning his head so his cheek is pressed to the floor. “Are they--?”
“Nope,” Junmyeon answers as he makes another lap around the couch. “They’re busy with studio time right now. They got a record deal.”
“Yeah, from doing shows with us,” Baekhyun huffs.
“Are you sure we can’t just do it alone?” Sehun groans, exasperated, but Junmyeon shakes his head before he disappears back into the kitchen.
“It wouldn’t look good for Black Pearl to do a sudden solo gig out of nowhere. Especially right before the music festival.”
Across the room, Chanyeol wiggles excitedly, as he had been doing every time Pentaport Rock Festival was mentioned ever since they got confirmation, months ago, that they would be in the lineup. Not that Sehun isn’t just as stoked for it as Chanyeol and the rest of them are, but he likes to think he has a better handle on his feelings than that.
He does have to admit Junmyeon has a point, though - at such a large event, their image is important.
“What about Red Light?” he asks, knowing he’s grasping at straws.
“Red Light is on their own tour right now,” Junmyeon calls, somewhere near the stove. “They wouldn’t be able to help even if they wanted to.”
Sehun and Baekhyun both groan, but Chanyeol raises his head a little. “What if we call the record company?” he suggests. “Get them to send us another band on our label. That should be okay, right?”
Junmyeon pauses for a moment in the middle of the room, then sighs and crosses his arms. “Sehun doesn’t like any of the other bands on our label,” he says.
That much is true, Sehun supposes, mentally sifting through their label mates. He’s gotten into a fight with at least one member of every act. The company Christmas party last year had been a nightmare.
Baekhyun scowls. “I don’t care who Sehun likes or dislikes. We don’t have a choice, so he’s gonna have to suck it up.”
“Maybe not,” Jongin chimes in, rising from the corner where he had been huddled up with his phone. “I know someone who might be able to help.”
The others stand up and crowd around him, peering at his phone screen, but all he has open is his contact list. He taps one entry but there’s no contact photo, only a phone number and the name ‘Luhan’.
“There’s this guy in town, an old friend of mine,” Jongin explains. “I was texting him earlier to see if he wanted to meet up, but it turns out he’s here with his band, and they have a show tonight.” He looks up at Junmyeon, smiling hopefully. “I’m not sure how long they’re staying afterwards, but… we could ask?”
“Sounds good,” Junmyeon says, beaming back at him. “We’d need to do it pretty soon, though. Can you call him now, ask if there’s a manager we can talk to?”
“I have all the members’ phone numbers,” Jongin says, scrolling down through his contact list. “Their manager is--”
“Hold on,” Sehun cuts in, leaning away from the huddle with a grimace. “Are you serious about this? None of us other than Jongin know anything about these guys.”
“Who cares?” Baekhyun sighs as Chanyeol ruffles Jongin’s hair. “Whoever they are, they have the potential to save our asses. That’s good enough for me.”
Sehun ignores him, looking to Chanyeol instead and hoping his stare looks somewhat pleading. Chanyeol just gives him a sheepish smile. “They’re friends with Jongin, right?” he says with a shrug. “If he trusts them, then I do too.”
“Four against one!” Baekhyun cheers. Sehun scowls at him.
Junmyeon touches Sehun’s shoulder gently, half comforting gesture-half keeping him from smacking his bandmate. “Sehun does have a point,” he says, looking back at Jongin. “We should probably know a little about this band before we ask them for a favour.”
“Sure,” Jongin says, nodding as he starts to count on his fingers. “Uh, they’re called Lost Planet. There’s five members. They formed in China, but two of them are Korean. Yixing - that’s the guitarist - he told me they’ve been working on writing music in both languages--”
“Cool, whatever,” Sehun interrupts, crossing his arms. “What do they sound like?”
Jongin frowns, brow furrowing in thought. “Kind of... indie, I guess?”
Sehun immediately makes a face. It’s not his least favourite genre, but it’s definitely somewhere close to the bottom of the list. He likes his music harsh and loud with soul-reverberation, not ukuleles.
Chanyeol nudges him in the ribs. “Lighten up,” he laughs. “If they sound good, it doesn’t matter what genre they are.”
Sehun glares at him. “But if they don’t sound good, it could cost us the crowd, before we even go on.”
“Just-- give them a chance, okay?” Jongin says, looking at Sehun somewhat pleadingly. “They’re great guys, really. They won’t let us down.”
Unable to resist his best friend’s stare, Sehun grudgingly deflates. “Fine,” he sighs, trying to sound bitter, but Jongin shoots him a grateful smile before ducking out of the room, and his resolve crumbles even further.
Skeptical as he may be, Sehun knows they’re pretty desperate, and this mystery band is kind of their only hope. If Lost Planet agree to do the gig, it’s not really going to matter if he likes them or not - which, he supposes, gives him free reign to dislike them as much as he wants. He sets his jaw and stares resolutely at the wall, trying his best to ignore the others’ excited chattering and, fainter, the sound of Jongin in the next room, laughing into his phone.
It doesn’t really work.
--
Lost Planet’s venue for that night is a decently-sized theatre, not somewhere Black Pearl has played before but still just as artsy-looking as Sehun expects it to be. There’s still a few hours before doors open, so it’s easy enough to find parking and make their way inside, especially with Junmyeon in the lead, looking professional enough in his more-business-than-casual business casual to allow them to go unquestioned.
Soon enough they’re pushing through a final set of doors into the actual theatre, with rows and rows of seats leading up to the elevated stage. It doesn’t look like much with the lights on, and the mess of mic stands and extension cords suggest the band is only part way through setting up. There are a few boys on stage fiddling with instrument cases who Sehun supposes are the band members, and one shorter guy on the ground, directing them. He turns around when Sehun and the others approach, and immediately breaks into a grin. “Jongin!” he calls, abandoning his post by the stage to bound over and hug him.
Jongin returns the hug before stepping back, the two of them beaming at each other. “Guys, this is Jongdae,” he says, somehow managing it around his massive grin. “He’s Lost Planet’s manager.”
Jongdae finally seems to notice the rest of the band behind Jongin. “You brought friends!” he crows. Sehun feels his nerves grating already.
“Yeah, this is Black Pearl,” Jongin says excitedly, and quickly introduces each of the members.
Jongdae smiles at each of them in turn but raises his eyebrows at Junmyeon, looking him up and down. “Who’s the suit?”
“Our manager,” Jongin answers, trying not to laugh.
Junmyeon looks more surprised than insulted though, and Sehun thinks his face might be a little pink when he shakes Jongdae’s hand. “I don’t know how much Jongin told you,” he starts, trailing off when Jongdae gives him a confused expression.
“Told me what?” he asks, looking back and forth between him and Jongin.
“I didn’t actually say anything,” Jongin admits sheepishly. “I didn’t know how to bring it up.”
Behind his back, Baekhyun catches Sehun’s gaze and rolls his eyes. Sehun resists the urge to do the same.
“We have a proposition,” Junmyeon says, and Jongdae perks up immediately.
“What, like a gig deal?”
“More or less, there’s just some things that--”
Something on stage clangs loudly, making them all jump, and the boy behind the drumkit gives them an apologetic wave before he bends to pick up the cymbals he dropped. Junmyeon smiles weakly, then turns back to Jongdae. “Is there somewhere we can talk that’s a little, uh, quieter?”
Jongdae beckons for him to follow, then leads Junmyeon up onto the stage and past the curtains on one side. Jongin, Chanyeol and Baekhyun also head to the stage, greeting the other band and starting to help them with set up. Sehun watches them go, then turns and walks in the opposite direction.
He goes back the way they came, up through the rows of seats to a door near the back, propped open with a chair so the outside breeze filters in. Stepping through the opening, he takes a deep breath of fresh air and leans back against the wall of the building. It’s a little bit cold, but the sound from the stage doesn’t echo all the way outside, so Sehun figures he can deal with it.
Sighing, he tips his head back. There are so many places he’d rather be than here. He knows this is their only option and all that - he can’t not know at this point, with the other members reminding him every time he so much as frowns - but that doesn’t mean he’s completely alright with letting this random indie band open for them, like Baekhyun and Chanyeol seem to be. Jongin at least has the excuse of already knowing the band, but the other two are too enthusiastic about this whole ordeal for Sehun’s liking.
There’s nothing he can do, though, not unless he goes back inside, which he refuses to do until Junmyeon comes back with an answer. He can already imagine the other members telling him he’s just being stubborn, and maybe he is - but mostly, he just wants to go back home so he can sulk about this in peace. Of course, it’s right after this thought that he’s interrupted by someone poking their head out the door.
Some short guy, not someone Sehun had seen on the stage before, leans out and peers around, his ridiculous honey-coloured hair getting ruffled a little by the breeze. He looks up at Sehun with a frown. “Have you seen Jongdae?”
He must be venue staff, Sehun guesses. It would explain the weird hair colour. An artsy theatre like this probably attracted weird indie employees to deal with the weird indie bands. “Somewhere backstage,” he answers shortly, and the guy nods before moving to duck back inside.
“Hey,” Sehun calls after him, waiting until he leans out the door again before continuing. “When you find him, can you tell him and the guy he’s with to hurry it up? We don’t have time to wait around all day.”
Staff-guy gives him a weird smile and, to Sehun’s surprise, steps over the chair to join him against the wall. Up close, Sehun can see beyond his fluffy bangs, taking in his bright eyes and long lashes. Ridiculously long. To match his ridiculous hair, Sehun supposes.
“You’re from Black Pearl, right?” Staff-guy asks, bringing Sehun back to the present. He’s a little thrown that this random indie kid apparently recognizes him, but it’s not a bad thing - maybe their fanbase is expanding, or something.
“Yeah,” he answers slowly. “Oh Sehun, lead guitar.”
Staff-guy waves that off. “The rest of your band is inside, you know.”
Sehun scoffs, crossing his arms. “I know where they are.”
“So why are you out here instead?”
“Because we’re not here to help,” Sehun huffs.
Staff-guy cocks his head a little, eyebrows raised. “Then what are you here for?”
Sehun supposes there’s nothing wrong with ranting to a stranger for a bit - Black Pearl won’t be coming back to this venue, anyway. “I’m here to avoid meeting the members of some weird indie band I don’t care about while our manager tries to make a deal with theirs.” He glares down at the ground. “It’s pointless to get acquainted if we’re only doing one show and then going separate ways.”
“Your bandmates don’t seem to care,” Staff-guy says, glancing at the door.
“Well, I do.” Sehun looks up at him, eyes narrowed. “Don’t you have something to be doing? I thought you were looking for Jongdae.”
Staff-guy shrugs, pushing off from the wall and climbing back over the chair in the doorway. Sehun leans back again, prepared to be left alone, but the now-familiar head of honey-hair peeks back out. “Are you coming?”
Sehun gives him a strange look. “Why would I?”
“You don’t have to,” he says, already stepping away. “I just thought, since you said you had a message for our managers...”
Sehun blinks a few times, processing his words before he catches on. “Our--? Wait, what?” He dashes forward, hopping over the chair and catching the guy’s shoulder before he can start walking away. “What the hell are you talking about? I thought you were--”
“Lost Planet’s vocalist,” the guy says, holding out his hand with a smile. “I’m Luhan. Nice to meet you.”
Sehun’s fingers slip off his shoulder. Of course, who else could the random stranger possibly be, other than a member of the band he was just complaining about? Whatever game the universe is playing, Sehun hopes it’s having a really good time watching him partake in the most awkward handshake of his life.
As soon as Sehun lets go, Luhan spins around and starts to walk again, leaving Sehun to hurry after him as they head toward the stage. He’s not sure if he should say anything, or apologize - Luhan had smiled at him, hadn’t he? Did that mean he wasn’t upset?
“Uh,” he starts, words sticking in his throat. “What I said outside, I didn’t really-- I was just--”
“Don’t worry about it,” Luhan cuts him off, glancing back over his shoulder. “I mean, it doesn’t matter to me. I’m not too sure how the other members are gonna feel about some broody guitarist saying he doesn’t want anything to do with them, though - especially when we’re supposed to be making some sort of gig deal with you?” He hums for a moment, and Sehun’s heart sinks. “Nevermind. Maybe worry about it.”
Sehun tries his best not to panic as he follows Luhan up to the stage and past the curtains, mentally running through all he had said outside. Did he really just mess up this whole deal, their only hope for the show tomorrow night and Black Pearl’s reputation afterwards? Baekhyun would flay him alive, and even Junmyeon would probably help.
He shakes his head, trying to focus on more realistic repercussions, but his mind runs away with them. What if they can’t play the show at all, or they do but lose the crowd, lose their fans? What if they can’t sell anymore, and the label drops them? Or what if, after all of it, Black Pearl ends up disbanding--
Luhan looks back at him, eyes widening at Sehun’s sickly expression. “Whoa, I’m kidding,” he laughs. “I’m not gonna go announce to my members that you hate them, seriously.”
Sehun feels his face heating up a little, and scowls at him to offset it. On the inside he’s heaving a massive sigh of relief, but Luhan doesn’t need to know that. “I don’t hate them, I don’t even know them.”
“Exactly,” Luhan says with a grin. “Once you do, you’ll probably change your mind. For now, though, it doesn’t really matter. Besides,” he adds, glancing back once more as he leads Sehun through the sidestage, “you already broke your own rule and got acquainted with me.”
Sehun pauses mid-step, dumbfounded for a split second before he recovers and focuses a glare at the back of Luhan’s head. He’s right, Sehun has to admit, but he’s also being annoying about it, and seems to be very aware of that fact. Whatever, Sehun huffs to himself, following Luhan up to a door marked ‘Green Room’. If Lost Planet’s hipster vocalist wants to be a pain in the ass, so be it. Sehun has dealt with enough sideshow douchebags to know he can handle this.
Luhan doesn’t bother knocking before he pushes the door open, and a bit of the managers’ conversation reaches Sehun’s ears, zoning him back in.
“We can’t pay you the full amount,” Junmyeon is explaining sheepishly. “Our other opener asked for half up front, and some of the festival expenses still aren’t covered.”
“Was Chaser part of the lineup for that, too?” Jongdae asks, and Junmyeon nods.
“Although, I don’t know if they’re still--”
“Need something?” Jongdae asks, cutting Junmyeon off when he notices Luhan and Sehun standing in the doorway.
“We’re ready for soundcheck,” Luhan tells him, then starts back towards the stage. Sehun follows, making sure to glare at him a little more before joining the other members already on stage, but then Junmyeon and Jongdae reappear, the latter clapping his hands loudly.
“Band meeting!” he cries, shooing Junmyeon and the Black Pearl members off the stage. Sehun shoots him a glare too, but follows Jongin down the steps and into a small huddle around Junmyeon. On the stage, the members of Lost Planet are doing the same around Jongdae while he waves his arms.
“Well?” Baekhyun whispers anxiously, bringing Sehun’s attention back to his own band. “Did he say yes?”
“I don’t know yet,” Junmyeon says with a shrug. “Let’s give him a chance to talk to the band, and then--”
“We’ll do it,” Jongdae announces from the stage, and the others whip around to stare at him.
“Seriously?” Chanyeol squeaks, grinning from ear to ear.
“If,” Jongdae continues, holding up a hand, “you get us into the festival lineup.”
There’s a brief silence, which Sehun breaks with a scoff. “You’ve got to be joking.”
Jongdae shakes his head, smirking. “Bring Lost Planet to Pentaport Rock Festival, and we’ll do the gig tomorrow night.”
Sehun has to hold back the urge to laugh out loud. “The festival is in like two weeks, we can’t just ask them to change the lineup--”
“Actually,” Junmyeon cuts in, “maybe we can. If Chaser drops out, there will be an empty space in the program. I’m sure the festival organizers wouldn’t have a problem with us suggesting a band to fill it.”
“You can’t seriously be considering this,” Sehun groans, but Baekhyun shushes him.
“What if Chaser doesn’t drop out, though?” Chanyeol asks.
“As it happens, a few of the organizers are family friends,” Junmyeon says with a sly smile. “Trust me, Chaser won’t be playing.”
Both bands ooh in appreciation. Even Sehun has to admit that their manager can pull some pretty impressive punches sometimes.
Grinning, Jongdae hops off the stage and trots over to them. He stops in front of Junmyeon and sticks his hand out. “Do we have a deal, then?”
He waggles his eyebrows. Junmyeon swallows audibly.
Sehun expects something dramatic to happen when they shake hands, some sign that shows the gravity of the agreement made, but there’s nothing. His bandmates cheer a little, the Lost Planet members high-five each other, and Junmyeon blushes some more, but the air in the venue still feels the same and Sehun is almost disappointed.
He glances at the stage and locks eyes with Luhan, who smiles brightly at him. Sehun frowns and turns away, shoving his hands in his pockets. He does feel a bit more annoyed than he had pre-handshake, he supposes. Maybe that’s enough of a sign.
“What do you think?” Jongin asks later, as they make their way back to Junmyeon’s car. He’s almost vibrating with excitement, a genuine bounce in his step. Sehun grimaces. “They’re great, right? They haven’t changed at all since I last saw them.”
“They seem cool,” Chanyeol says brightly. “I wish we could’ve stayed for their set tonight, though. I really want to hear that one song Yixing was talking about.”
“You’ll probably hear it tomorrow night,” Baekhyun reminds him. Sehun rolls his eyes.
“At least if we stayed we’d know what to expect,” he grumbles, shoving his hands in his pockets. “We still have no clue if they even sound good. I mean, at least Chaser played rock.”
“Yeah, but Chaser also screwed us over royally,” Baekhyun says sweetly. “We don’t have time to audition a bunch of punk rock boybands for tomorrow night, and Lost Planet is offering their help right now. We’d be stupid to say no.”
Sehun scowls and looks away, but he knows Baekhyun is right.
“What about you?” Chanyeol asks Junmyeon, who’s been staring off to space the whole walk across the parking lot.
“Cute,” Junmyeon says, a little dreamily. Everyone stops and turns to stare at him, and he blinks a few times, zoning back in. “I - I mean,” he stutters, cheeks flushing, “their... style is cute. Lyrics and sound and… yeah.”
“I agree!” Chanyeol says, grinning again. By then they’ve reached the car, and Junmyeon takes the opportunity to hide his face while he fumbles with his keys.
Jongin leans closer to Sehun, cupping his hands to whisper to him. “Did he even hear them play anything?”
“Definitely not,” Sehun whispers back, and the two of them hide snickers behind their hands as they’re ushered into the car by a still pink-faced Junmyeon.
--
After a lot of rushing around, calling the venue and changing signs and whatever other incredibly-last-minute changes had to be made, the gig is finally good to go with Lost Planet opening. Judging by the line of people waiting that they drive past when they arrive at the venue, Sehun figures there’s not much love lost between Black Pearl and their fans.
He’s still a little nervous about the whole indie-band-genre-clash thing, but is making an effort not to let it show. Earlier he had debated purposefully showing up late and missing Lost Planet’s set, but Junmyeon had apparently read his mind and insisted on giving Sehun a lift to the venue himself. His vague plan foiled, Sehun had decided to make the most of the situation, annoying as it is.
They’re a bit late anyway, thanks to traffic, and by the time Sehun and Junmyeon arrive backstage, everything is already set up and both bands are lounging on the couches in the green room. It’s kind of stuffy with eleven guys in one room, but Sehun has played in shittier venues than this one, so he’ll take what he can get.
He joins Jongin in one corner, sliding his guitar case off his shoulders and setting it down on the floor to unzip. “About time,” Jongin says, looking up from his half-tuned bass to smirk at him. “I was worried you were gonna show up halfway through the set.”
“I considered it,” Sehun says, impassive.
“Come on,” Jongin laughs. “This is just like any other show. Once you get onstage, you’ll forget you were ever dreading it.”
“I’m not dreading it,” Sehun huffs, gripping the tuning pegs just a little tighter than he should. “I’m just… apprehensive.”
Jongin frowns. “You said you would give them a chance,” he reminds him.
Sehun doesn’t look up, glowering at his guitar strings instead. “It’ll be fine,” Jongin insists. “Lost Planet is--”
“Lost Planet is what?” someone asks from behind them, and Sehun whips his head around to stare up at the intruder on their conversation.
It’s Luhan. Of course it’s Luhan. He walks right past Sehun and over to Jongin, slumping down on the floor and leaning heavily against him. “Super impressive?” he suggests. “Amazingly talented? Incredibly humble?”
“Don’t fish for compliments,” Jongin snickers, nudging him away. Luhan pouts and looks over at Sehun instead, smiling when he catches his gaze. He’s wearing eyeliner, like Baekhyun sometimes does for performances. Luhan must apply it differently than he does, though - Sehun is pretty sure makeup has never made Baekhyun’s eyes stand out like Luhan’s do, bright and almost intense, deep even from a distance.
Sehun makes himself look away, back down at his guitar as he hastily plugs into an amp. He strums a few times, checking his tuning while conveniently drowning out Jongin and Luhan’s conversation.
“Your B string is a little flat,” someone pipes up next to his ear, making him jump. He glares up at the newcomer, a boy in a sweater with an acoustic guitar slung over his back. “Sorry, did I startle you?”
“No,” Sehun grumbles. The boy hums and crouches down next to him, carefully running one finger over the headstock of Sehun’s guitar and pulling his hand back before Sehun can jerk away.
“It’s really nice,” he says, giving Sehun a dimpled smile. “You must take really good care of it. You’re Sehun, right?”
Sehun nods, relaxing a little. “And you’re…” He pauses, fishing around for the names Chanyeol had told him the night before. “Yixing?”
“Yes!” Yixing says, clapping his hands. “I play guitar, same as you.”
He seems very excited about the whole thing. Sehun doesn’t really understand why, but at the same time it’s refreshing to see someone so enthusiastic.
“Have you met the others?” Yixing asks, and when Sehun shakes his head he jumps to his feet with another smile and gestures for him to follow. Sehun surprises himself with how fast he puts his guitar down and stands up to join him.
“That’s Kyungsoo,” Yixing says, pointing at a boy sitting next to Baekhyun on one of the couches, “our bassist. Beside him is Zitao--”
“Drummer,” Sehun says, watching him tap his feet like kick pedals. Two seats over, Chanyeol has the same habit.
Yixing nods, turning him in another direction. “Over there, speaking with your manager, is Minseok. He’s keyboards and synthesizer. While we’re in Korea, we stay at his house.
“And this,” he continues, turning Sehun around again and leading him back to where he was originally sitting, “is Lu--”
“Luhan,” Sehun says flatly. Luhan grins up at him, still leaning on Jongin. “I know him already.”
“You haven’t heard us play yet, have you?” Yixing asks, somehow still absolutely stoked. “I hope we surpass your expectations.”
“That won’t be hard,” Luhan yawns. Sehun glares at him.
“Sehun is just a little worried about both bands’ sounds clashing,” Jongin explains, but Sehun can tell he’s trying not to laugh at Luhan’s dramatic eye-roll.
“I don’t like my music to have twang,” Sehun says defensively.
“Ah, you’re thinking indie-folk,” Yixing explains. “We’re more indie-pop. Or indie-pop-rock? One of those.”
“Great,” Sehun deadpans.
The door to the stage is suddenly thrown open and Jongdae rushes in, looking a little frazzled but more ecstatic than anything. “Five minutes,” he announces, and around the room the Lost Planet members stand up to gather their instruments and head out.
Jongin pokes Luhan in the leg as he’s brushing himself off. “Good luck out there.”
“You too, for later,” Luhan says. He turns to Sehun, lips quirked. “You’ll be watching us, right?”
“Maybe,” Sehun answers shortly, looking away with a frown. “Maybe not.”
Luhan shrugs and follows the others to the door, throwing Jongin an exaggerated wink before he disappears. Sehun frowns deeper.
Greeted by a wall of noise from the audience, Lost Planet take the stage. Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Jongin rush off to watch from behind the sidestage curtains but Sehun stays in the green room, stubbornly pacing back and forth. He manages to hold out for two full songs before his curiosity gets the better of him, and he sneaks out to join the others where they’re peeking out at the stage. He’s pretty sure Jongin rolls his eyes at him, but backstage is all but pitch black, so he pretends he didn’t see it and instead focuses on Lost Planet’s performance.
They’re pretty good; still not rock music, but Sehun does have to admit their sound is a lot farther from folk than what he was expecting, which is a relief. The crowd is responding well, yelling their lungs out over the noise of the band. Sehun wonders if any of them are Lost Planet fans that managed to get tickets at the last minute. He tries to shift a little to look out at the audience, maybe see if he can spot any signs for them being held up, but Luhan steps into his line of vision instead.
Under the stage lights, he’s captivating. Sehun can’t hear many of the words he sings over the screaming crowd and Zitao’s drumbeats, but he can watch him move, jumping in place along with the floor-seaters and striding purposefully across the stage to press up back-to-back against Yixing. Sehun barely glances at the other members though, and his eyes follow Luhan for the whole song. He has presence unlike anything Sehun has ever seen - the music is enough, but Luhan makes the stage come alive beneath his feet.
“See?” Chanyeol whispers, popping up beside him. “They don’t even have a ukulele player.”
Sehun smacks him and looks back at the stage, but the song is ending and the moment is over. As Luhan bows to the audience, Sehun can just see the edge of the bright smile on his face.
He doesn’t have time to dwell on it though - Lost Planet’s set is over two songs later and the fifteen minutes before Black Pearl goes on is taken up by last-second tuning and mic checks. Before he knows it, Sehun is waiting behind the sidestage curtains again with the other three members, the familiar weight of his guitar settled in his arms.
Baekhyun steps up beside him and tugs on his elbow, drawing him a few feet away from Chanyeol and Jongin. “Listen,” he says, voice low enough for only Sehun to hear, “I know for the last couple days we’ve both been stressed as hell, and I just wanna say sorry, okay?” He looks down, fiddling with the wire for his in-ear monitor. “I didn’t mean to be that much of a dick.”
“Alright,” Sehun says blankly. Baekhyun grimaces and smacks his arm.
“I’m gonna take that as an ‘I’m sorry too’, asshole,” he grumbles, but there’s a grin on his face and Sehun can’t help smiling back.
It’s then that the lights start to dim, and the growing noise of the crowd reaches Sehun’s ears as he’s ushered onto the stage. The members take their places in the dark, quiet for a moment before Chanyeol’s count-in and the first breath Baekhyun takes, and then the stage lights are flashing on and the crowd is roaring, and Sehun doesn’t think about anything except his fingers on the strings and the sound the four of them fill the space with.
--
Kyungsoo is the first one to suggest going out for drinks after the gig, and immediately rises several places in Sehun’s list of good people. Jongin opts out, as usual, preferring to go home and sleep as soon as possible after shows, and Yixing takes Zitao back to Minseok’s place to follow his example, but the rest of the band members head to the closest bar-slash-club.
They manage to fit their whole group - sans Junmyeon and Jongdae, who go up a floor by themselves to discuss the festival - around one table in a booth, a feat of which Chanyeol is especially proud. Looking around at the other musicians, Sehun finds himself feeling pretty good, except for the way Luhan’s bony elbow is getting a little too close to his ribs. A literal pain in his side. Hilarious.
As soon as the first round is distributed and the second is half-downed, Baekhyun pipes up. “So,” he drawls, turning to Luhan with eyebrows raised, “who are you, and how do you know our Jongin?”
Luhan pouts playfully. “You mean he never talked about me?”
“I had literally never heard of you,” Chanyeol chimes in, then frowns a little. “No offense.”
“None taken,” Luhan laughs, then sits up a bit straighter as the whole table’s focus shifts to him. “Jongin and I, we’ve been friends for a long time. We were in a band together, years ago.”
“Wait, you never told us that, either,” Minseok says, narrowing his eyes at his bandmate. Sehun resists the urge to nod along, a little offended that Jongin hadn’t told him, his best friend, about his very first band.
“How many years are we talking about?” Baekhyun asks.
Luhan shrugs, looking sheepish. “Like, during high school.”
“That’s so cool,” Chanyeol says, eyes sparkling. “I was in a band in high school, too! Heavy Noize.” He sighs wistfully. “We won a talent show, once.”
“Well, that’s already more than us,” Luhan admits. “We never really did much aside from deciding on the name.”
“Which was?”
“Uh, Younique Unit.”
Sehun scrunches his nose in distaste while the rest of them burst out laughing. “Just for that, I’ll buy the next round,” Baekhyun announces, clapping Luhan on the shoulder as he stands up.
Sliding out of the booth after him, Sehun follows Baekhyun over to the bar, eager to get away when the conversation seems like it’s going to be centred on Luhan for a while. Baekhyun doesn’t even look surprised, just barely rolling his eyes before he signals the bartender. He doesn’t say anything though, and the quiet while they wait gives Sehun an opportunity to look around the bar.
It’s not terribly crowded, a couple empty tables but a full dance floor, and Sehun glances over a few faces before settling his gaze on a girl at the other end of the bar counter. She’s standing with a few other people, talking and laughing with them. Sehun’s eyes wander from her pretty smile to her wavy hair, following the fall of it over her shoulders. Her shirt seems a little too tight, clinging to her curves and stretching thin over her bust. Sehun lingers on the lines of her bra for a long moment before Baekhyun clears his throat, waving a drink in front of his face.
Mumbling his thanks, Sehun takes the glass and looks back at the girl as he takes a sip. Baekhyun follows his gaze and sighs. “Your taste never changes, does it.”
Sehun glowers at him. “Neither does my ability to score, so shove off.”
Baekhyun just shrugs, smirking as he picks up the tray with the rest of their group’s drinks and starts back to their table. Sehun watches him place it down and hand the glasses out before he leans over to say something to Luhan. Whatever it is, it makes Luhan look over at Sehun with a sly smile, at which point Sehun turns away, refusing to give him any more of his attention.
His eyes find the same girl again, and he tries to focus on her even as he feels someone come up beside him and hears Luhan’s voice ordering a shot. The girl is moving closer to the dance floor, pulling her shirt up a little to better cover her cleavage, but Sehun can already imagine it slipping down again once she starts dancing, even considers getting up and joining her on the floor, asking to buy her a drink--
Luhan taps his shoulder, and Sehun turns around before he can remember not to. Fuck.
“Hi,” Luhan says before he can whip back around. “Is your scoring ability as bad as Baekhyun seems to think?”
Sehun gives him a blank stare. “Do you have a constant need to be on someone’s nerves, or is it just mine?”
Luhan laughs, eyes crinkling. “Sorry,” he says, sounding anything but. “It’s just really easy to tease you about, you know, literally anything.”
He snickers a little more and Sehun glares at him, but its more playful than anything. He even feels himself starting to smile along with Luhan. He blames the alcohol. “What, you only like me ‘cause I’m easy to pick on?”
“Nah,” Luhan sighs, leaning back against the bar. “I like you ‘cause you’re cute.”
Sehun snorts. “Why don’t you go make fun of your own band?”
“I would never,” Luhan gasps, mock-offended. “Plus, none of them would take me as seriously as you do.”
Sehun rolls his eyes, but Luhan keeps going. “Even your bandmates wouldn’t be as fun. Jongin never liked that sort of thing, teasing and stuff. I don’t think Chanyeol would care much... Baekhyun, maybe?” He taps his chin for a moment, then smiles wryly. “But he’s got his guard dog, over there.”
Sehun follows his gaze across the room. Baekhyun is on one side, part of the mass on the dance floor with a guy moving behind him, maybe just a little too close. On the other is Chanyeol, still seated at their table but his eyes are on Baekhyun, watching him move.
“Ah,” Sehun says. “Yeah. That’s a thing.”
Luhan raises his eyebrows. “Are they a thing?”
Sehun shrugs. “Dunno. I’ve never asked.”
“But aren’t you curious?” Luhan asks, looking back at the two of them.
“Not really,” Sehun sighs. The guy dancing with Baekhyun steps closer to him, his hands coming up to slide around his hips, but Baekhyun slips out of his grasp with a playful smirk. “It’s their business, not mine.”
“They’re your bandmates,” Luhan points out. “If they’re unhappy, it’s your business.”
“They’re not unhappy,” Sehun says. It comes out more defensively than he means it to. “Look, this happens all the time. Baek gets drunk and flirts around, Chanyeol gets fed up with it and intervenes. Watch.”
As if on cue, Chanyeol stands up from their table, abruptly enough to startle both Kyungsoo and Minseok, and makes his way to the dance floor. He slides smoothly in between Baekhyun and his new dance partner, breaking them apart with a possessive arm around Baekhyun’s waist. He pulls Baekhyun away from the floor and off to one side of the room, pushing him up against the wall with a serious look on his face.
Baekhyun just smiles up at him, cheeks flushed from alcohol and dancing. He leans in a little to whisper something in Chanyeol’s ear, and when he pulls back to look at him again Chanyeol grabs his hand. With interlocking fingers, they start towards the doors.
“See? It’s fine.”
“Where are they going?” Luhan asks, watching them slip outside.
“Home, probably,” Sehun says, sipping his drink. “Usually they go off and grind somewhere.”
Luhan makes a face. “Too much information.”
“I guess I’m desensitized,” Sehun says. He glances at Luhan, still grimacing, and laughs a little. “What, are your bandmates completely normal?”
“Of course not,” Luhan says. “I don’t think that’s possible in the music industry.”
“That’s fair,” Sehun agrees, and watches Luhan drink his shot before he opens his mouth again. “What about you and Jongin?” he asks. “Were you really in a band together?”
Luhan smirks, putting the shot glass down. “What, you don’t believe me?”
Sehun shrugs. “Jongin never really mentioned you until yesterday, is all.”
“I’m not surprised, to be honest,” Luhan sighs, leaning back against the counter. “The band didn’t last long, since I had to go back to Beijing after high school.”
“So, what, a messy disbandment?” Sehun can’t picture it, not with how Jongin had been smiling and laughing with Luhan earlier.
“Not really. There wasn’t much to disband,” Luhan admits, laughing a little. “I mean, a lot of the time, ‘band practice’ was just as excuse to go make out somewhere.”
Sehun’s brain fizzles a bit. “I-- You and Jongin were--?”
“A thing,” Luhan says simply, shrugging. “We didn’t really have time to make it anything more, because I had to leave, but… we stayed close afterwards. Stayed in touch.”
Sehun keeps his mouth shut, not entirely sure how to react. For all he thought he knew his best friend, he never knew anything about this - the high school band, the breakup, Luhan in general. Surely if it were something he wanted shared, he would’ve told Sehun ages ago. It’s uncomfortable, knowing something which he’s not certain Jongin would want him to know. He’s suddenly very glad that Jongin didn’t end up coming to the bar with them.
“Anyway, if we’re playing twenty questions, it’s my turn,” Luhan says, apparently unfazed by Sehun’s lack of a reaction. “What happened with your other opener?”
Sehun blinks. “Chaser? They fucked off to Busan without telling us.”
“I know that,” Luhan says impatiently, waving his hand. “I mean beforehand.” At Sehun’s strange look, he goes on. “You guys don’t seem to be mourning the loss of them. In fact, your manager looked pretty enthusiastic about screwing them over with the whole festival thing. Did you guys have a falling out?” He narrows his eyes, playful. “Maybe something that made them drop you in the first place?”
“Not really,” Sehun says impassively. “I mean, I punched their drummer in the face this one time, but that was--”
“Sorry,” Luhan cuts him off, looking a little alarmed. “You did what?”
Sehun huffs out a breath. “I broke their drummer’s nose because he called us amateurs.”
Luhan hums, unimpressed. “He was a dick,” Sehun insists.
“But did he really deserve your fist in his face?” Luhan asks. “Just for that?”
“It made him shut up well enough,” Sehun says, crossing his arms on the countertop.
Luhan looks about to say something else but he stops himself, looking down at the counter instead. Their elbows almost brush where they’re both leaning on the bar. Sehun stares at the space between them until Luhan speaks up again. “You’re not gonna punch our drummer in the face, are you? Baby Zitao?”
“Not unless he gives me a reason to,” Sehun answers.
Luhan snorts, shaking his head a little, and looks up to signal the bartender. He orders two more shots, downing one immediately but sliding the other across the counter to Sehun.
“I get that you’ve had to deal with some difficult people,” he says when Sehun looks up, “but I want you to know that we’re different. Lost Planet will have your back for as long as we’re working together.”
Sehun bites down on the urge to tell him how short he expects that time to be. He watches Luhan stand up, but looks away when he turns to face him.
“I hope we get the chance to show you,” Luhan says. He sounds like he’s smiling.
By the time Sehun lifts his head to check, Luhan is already across the room, joining Minseok and Kyungsoo on their way to the door. Sehun shakes his head and looks down at the shot glass still in front of him, not sure why he feels so thrown off. They were both well on their way to drunk anyway, he tells himself, and Luhan probably didn’t know what he was saying any more than Sehun did.
In the meantime, he does his best to block out Luhan’s words, throwing back the shot and focusing on the other end of the bar, where the girl from earlier has appeared again. It’s easy enough to move to that end and order a drink from there, offering one to her once he knows he’s caught her eye, then asking her to join him in a booth instead. Even easier after that to get her to lean in close enough for him to brush his lips over her neck.
He stutters a little when he looks into her eyes up close, taking in her long lashes and sharp lines of makeup and remembering how Luhan’s eyes had been rimmed in black the same way earlier. He’s not sure where the thought comes from, it just pops up unbidden and then won’t go away, so Sehun kisses her to mute it. This way, he won’t have to look.
He gets halfway into her shirt, and her halfway into his jeans, before the bar starts closing. Sehun puts his arm around her as the two of them leave, uncaring of the rest of the late-night patrons as he teases the thin strap of her shirt. She pushes him away, giggling, when they reach the sidewalk. Sehun takes the opportunity to pause, letting the cold night air floods into his chest.
It feels nice, after spending the day in crowded spaces like the venue and the club, like filtering his lungs but also his mind, and all that both parts have taken in over the day. The simple but much-needed cleanse leaves him a lot calmer, but also suddenly and sorely exhausted.
The girl slides her hands up to his shoulders and leans in, but she’s frowning, biting her lip. Sehun wonders for a moment if she feels it too, but kisses her anyway.
She breaks it first. They each let out one more breath in each other’s space before she pulls back, and Sehun lets her go.
--
It’s late when Sehun finally gets home. He kicks off his shoes by the door and shuffles down the hall, eager to fall into bed and forget about everything until the morning.
A light in the living room is still on when he walks past, and he peeks in to see Baekhyun curled up on one end of the couch, staring blankly at the muted TV across from him. One hand is raised to his mouth, absently brushing his fingertips across his lips.
He looks up when Sehun steps into the room, giving him a tired sort of smile. “Hey. Back already?”
“Yeah,” Sehun replies after a moment. His mouth feels weird, tingly. He should probably brush his teeth.
“Where’s that girl you were with?” Baekhyun asks, peering around Sehun like he might be hiding her in his coat. “The one with the - the amazing tits, what happened to her?”
“I got her a cab,” Sehun says flatly. “Where’s your boyfriend?”
Baekhyun seems startled by the question, but recovers a second later and narrows his eyes. “I think you drank too much,” he says stiffly.
“Probably,” Sehun agrees. There’s a wobble in his legs that’s either from intoxication or exhaustion, he’s not sure which.
He leaves Baekhyun alone again while he stumbles through his night-time routine, and by the time he’s properly ready for sleep both the TV and the living room light are off. There’s something about it that is worth thinking about, Sehun knows, but his mind is too cloudy to think much about anything beyond crawling under his blankets and closing his eyes.
After a brief wish against morning ashtray-mouth, he falls asleep. He dreams of people dancing, of laughter too far away to put a name to, and of sparkling eyes outlined in black.
--
Black Pearl’s last week before the music festival is full of preparations and rehearsals, readying themselves for both the journey and the performance. They all know it’s necessary, but that doesn’t make it any less tiring, and when Junmyeon tells them the day before they leave is for resting up, Sehun is prepared to take the longest nap of his life.
Or, he is, until he sees Jongin slipping his shoes on by the door, and demands to know why he isn’t already asleep. It turns out, Jongin tells him cheerily, that Lost Planet have been doing some last-minute preparations themselves, and one of them is the short open mic slot at a local cafe that Yixing and Luhan are going to perform at. Jongin is going to watch, of course, because he’s a supportive friend like that. Sehun decides to tag along.
He’s not entirely sure why; he still thinks longingly of his bed as they walk down the street, but he supposes it’s worth it to spend some time with Jongin. Lately the whole band has been together all day every day, so going out just the two of them is a welcome change.
The downside is that, as soon as he’s alone with Jongin, Sehun immediately starts to think of what Luhan had told him at the bar. Recently all of their conversations have somehow come back to Lost Planet or to Luhan in particular, and it’s constantly on the tip of Sehun’s tongue to ask Jongin about his past with him.
Like right now, only a couple blocks away from the cafe. Unable to hold in his curiosity, Sehun steers his thoughts away from words like ex-boyfriend and tries for something that sounds a little more innocent. “So… how do you know Luhan, anyway?”
“We had a band together, if you can believe it,” Jongin laughs. “It was kind of brief, though. Luhan left Korea after high school, so we had to disband. We still stayed in touch afterwards, sent each other music and stuff… Oh, that reminds me,” he says suddenly, turning to Sehun with a grin. “I have copies of Lost Planet’s first few EPs, if you want to listen? They’re even signed, because Luhan is a moron like that.”
“Sure,” Sehun says, hoping he sounds it more than he feels it. Jongin beams.
There’s a long pause that Sehun is pretty sure he should fill with something, but part of him is waiting for Jongin to continue, to throw something in like ‘oh yeah, we also dated’, but he just goes on smiling instead, completely oblivious. They reach the cafe before Sehun can break the silence, and he decides to just keep his mouth shut as Jongin eagerly pulls him inside.
There’s a decent crowd for such a small shop, so they stand near the back with a clear view over the other spectators’ heads of the makeshift stage. Luhan and Yixing have a stool each, with two microphones on stands in front. Luhan is adjusting Yixing’s when he looks up and spots them, and gives them a small but excited wave. Sehun takes in the bright smile on his face and immediately forgets what he had just been talking about. After a few more minutes of fumbling with microphones, Luhan gives a short introduction and Yixing starts to play. A hush settles over everyone watching, Jongin and Sehun included.
Their set is nice, Sehun grudgingly admits. Indie music is still weird and definitely not his favourite, but Luhan’s voice is… nice. He sings every song in Mandarin and while Sehun can’t understand a word of it, he can tell it flows easier. The foreign words wash over him in Luhan’s sweet tone and Sehun concedes, with some tiny part of himself, that he’s glad he came to listen.
Walking home later, he tunes out Jongin’s gushing about the set and looks up at the darkening sky, breathing in the night air. It feels like a reprieve before something shifts - and, he supposes, not without good reason: this time tomorrow, Black Pearl will be at Pentaport to play for one of their biggest-ever crowds.
Lost Planet will be there too, Sehun reminds himself, but he’s not sure how to feel about that, not anymore. Their show together went well, better than he was expecting. His original worries turned out to be unnecessary, and he can’t deny that both bands get along well - not even just the other Black Pearl members, but himself included.
Things could change, though. Sehun still feels a little uneasy, and he still worries that if they rely on this band and something goes wrong, the aftermath will mostly affect Black Pearl. He trusted Chaser once, and that already came back to bite him.
Even with all this swirling in his head, there’s still something in the back of his mind trying to be reassuring. Maybe it’ll be nice to have another band at the festival with them, a group they can count on. Maybe, after all this, Black Pearl will benefit from having Lost Planet around.
And maybe along the way, he can find out if Luhan annoys him or not - he can’t decide on that, either.
part 2
rating: NC-17
warnings: alcohol/drug use, sex under the influence
wordcount: 20k
summary: Band!AU. Sehun doesn’t like the new opener, or their weird indie sound, and especially not their annoying vocalist.
notes: written for selubration, originally posted here!!! wassup longest exo fic i’ve ever written, wassup vintage otp, wassup band au i’ve always wanted to write ;;;; when i got this prompt i literally punched the air i was so stoked T v T enjoy~
in the original post comments there were several people who said that this fic helped them be a little less sad about luhan leaving. i hope it can be that way for others as well ♡
“Bad news,” Chanyeol says, shutting the door behind himself and shrugging off his jacket. “Chaser just bailed.”
Sehun looks up, hands stilling on the neck of his guitar resting over his lap. “You’re joking.”
Chanyeol strides further into the room, shaking his head. “No jokes, they’re on their way back to Busan as we speak.”
Baekhyun groans, pressing his hands over his face and leaning back into the couch. “What the fuck, seriously?”
Frowning, Jongin stands up from his spot on the floor beside Sehun. “Did they say why?”
“Not really, something about getting a better deal?” Chanyeol scrubs a hand over his face. “Howon hung up before I could get a word in, and didn’t answer when I called back.”
Sehun sighs, tipping his head back against the wall. “Of course not, that would’ve made our lives too easy.” Howon had always been a prick.
“They know the gig is tomorrow, right?” Jongin asks slowly. “Did they not think about how high and dry they just left us?”
Chanyeol shrugs helplessly. “I guess it was really important.”
“Yeah, important enough that they called you instead of our manager,” Baekhyun scoffs. He sits up straighter, crossing his arms. “I bet they didn’t pay us back what we gave them up front, either.”
“Whatever,” Sehun says, shrugging. “It’s not that much of a loss.”
“Excuse me?” Baekhyun splutters, staring at him incredulously. “In what way is losing our opening band not a loss?”
“I’m just saying,” Sehun huffs. “They were jerks from the beginning. We shouldn’t be playing shows with them, anyway.”
Baekhyun clenches his hands into fists, glaring at him. “You’re missing the point.”
“Chaser did us a favour by dropping out,” Sehun says. “The point is, now we don’t have to deal with a shitty opener like them.”
“No, the point is we don’t have an opener anymore!” Baekhyun snaps. He presses the heels of his palms over his eyes, letting out an angry breath. “Can you please pretend to care about the rest of us for, like, two seconds?”
Sehun glares at him, opening his mouth to snarl something back, but Chanyeol steps in between them. “Leave it,” he says pleadingly. “You can fight later, now isn’t the time.”
“We have a little over twenty-four hours to find an opener for tomorrow night,” Jongin says, running a hand through his hair. “Plus a way to pay them.”
“Plus someone has to call Junmyeon to let him know,” Chanyeol adds, “and it isn’t gonna be me.”
--
Despite the stress and flimsy plans and general instability that comes with the job, Sehun really does like being in a band. The feeling of elation that comes with being on stage, with connecting to the audience and sending a message, is something he wouldn’t trade for the world.
Black Pearl had come a long way since their beginnings in Chanyeol’s dad’s garage and any club that would have them, and even though they’ve only been bandmates for a few years, the other three are (as uncomfortable as it is for Sehun to say out loud) his closest friends. They’d been together for some important milestones, after all - Chanyeol buying his first car, Sehun’s first legal drink, Baekhyun’s month-long laryngitis, that time Jongin almost dropped his bass down the service stairs, and, of course, their record deal and all that came with Black Pearl being signed.
It was the best and most terrifying rollercoaster Sehun had ever been on, and it ended with their album in the top 20 and enough profit to move out of the tiny apartment the four of them had somehow crammed themselves into. Junmyeon, their new manager, recommended that they continue living together to promote team-bonding, which they weren’t so sure of at first - Sehun still isn’t so sure about it, having been woken up countless times by Baekhyun’s perfectly on-pitch shower singing or, sometimes, Chanyeol’s sleep-drumming - but everything else Junmyeon told them had been right, so they moved into their four-bedroom sort-of-soundproof new home.
There are downsides, like sleep disturbances, and Sehun definitely fights with Baekhyun the most, but at the end of the day, there’s no one Sehun would rather stand on stage with than the three boys that helped create the best thing that’s ever happened to him. All he wants is to rise higher with them - and they had been rising, recently, Black Pearl’s popularity increasing enough so that Sehun thought they were past the days of scrambling to cover the cost of booking venues or, as in this case, to find a decent band to hype up the crowd before their timeslot.
But here they are, spread out on the floor with Junmyeon pacing through the living room to the kitchen and back again as they all wrack their brains for local, available, trustworthy bands.
“We didn’t play that many shows with Chaser, did we?” Baekhyun sighs, rolling over onto his back and glaring up at the ceiling. “Who opened for us before them?”
“Mr. Simple, I think,” Chanyeol says, turning his head so his cheek is pressed to the floor. “Are they--?”
“Nope,” Junmyeon answers as he makes another lap around the couch. “They’re busy with studio time right now. They got a record deal.”
“Yeah, from doing shows with us,” Baekhyun huffs.
“Are you sure we can’t just do it alone?” Sehun groans, exasperated, but Junmyeon shakes his head before he disappears back into the kitchen.
“It wouldn’t look good for Black Pearl to do a sudden solo gig out of nowhere. Especially right before the music festival.”
Across the room, Chanyeol wiggles excitedly, as he had been doing every time Pentaport Rock Festival was mentioned ever since they got confirmation, months ago, that they would be in the lineup. Not that Sehun isn’t just as stoked for it as Chanyeol and the rest of them are, but he likes to think he has a better handle on his feelings than that.
He does have to admit Junmyeon has a point, though - at such a large event, their image is important.
“What about Red Light?” he asks, knowing he’s grasping at straws.
“Red Light is on their own tour right now,” Junmyeon calls, somewhere near the stove. “They wouldn’t be able to help even if they wanted to.”
Sehun and Baekhyun both groan, but Chanyeol raises his head a little. “What if we call the record company?” he suggests. “Get them to send us another band on our label. That should be okay, right?”
Junmyeon pauses for a moment in the middle of the room, then sighs and crosses his arms. “Sehun doesn’t like any of the other bands on our label,” he says.
That much is true, Sehun supposes, mentally sifting through their label mates. He’s gotten into a fight with at least one member of every act. The company Christmas party last year had been a nightmare.
Baekhyun scowls. “I don’t care who Sehun likes or dislikes. We don’t have a choice, so he’s gonna have to suck it up.”
“Maybe not,” Jongin chimes in, rising from the corner where he had been huddled up with his phone. “I know someone who might be able to help.”
The others stand up and crowd around him, peering at his phone screen, but all he has open is his contact list. He taps one entry but there’s no contact photo, only a phone number and the name ‘Luhan’.
“There’s this guy in town, an old friend of mine,” Jongin explains. “I was texting him earlier to see if he wanted to meet up, but it turns out he’s here with his band, and they have a show tonight.” He looks up at Junmyeon, smiling hopefully. “I’m not sure how long they’re staying afterwards, but… we could ask?”
“Sounds good,” Junmyeon says, beaming back at him. “We’d need to do it pretty soon, though. Can you call him now, ask if there’s a manager we can talk to?”
“I have all the members’ phone numbers,” Jongin says, scrolling down through his contact list. “Their manager is--”
“Hold on,” Sehun cuts in, leaning away from the huddle with a grimace. “Are you serious about this? None of us other than Jongin know anything about these guys.”
“Who cares?” Baekhyun sighs as Chanyeol ruffles Jongin’s hair. “Whoever they are, they have the potential to save our asses. That’s good enough for me.”
Sehun ignores him, looking to Chanyeol instead and hoping his stare looks somewhat pleading. Chanyeol just gives him a sheepish smile. “They’re friends with Jongin, right?” he says with a shrug. “If he trusts them, then I do too.”
“Four against one!” Baekhyun cheers. Sehun scowls at him.
Junmyeon touches Sehun’s shoulder gently, half comforting gesture-half keeping him from smacking his bandmate. “Sehun does have a point,” he says, looking back at Jongin. “We should probably know a little about this band before we ask them for a favour.”
“Sure,” Jongin says, nodding as he starts to count on his fingers. “Uh, they’re called Lost Planet. There’s five members. They formed in China, but two of them are Korean. Yixing - that’s the guitarist - he told me they’ve been working on writing music in both languages--”
“Cool, whatever,” Sehun interrupts, crossing his arms. “What do they sound like?”
Jongin frowns, brow furrowing in thought. “Kind of... indie, I guess?”
Sehun immediately makes a face. It’s not his least favourite genre, but it’s definitely somewhere close to the bottom of the list. He likes his music harsh and loud with soul-reverberation, not ukuleles.
Chanyeol nudges him in the ribs. “Lighten up,” he laughs. “If they sound good, it doesn’t matter what genre they are.”
Sehun glares at him. “But if they don’t sound good, it could cost us the crowd, before we even go on.”
“Just-- give them a chance, okay?” Jongin says, looking at Sehun somewhat pleadingly. “They’re great guys, really. They won’t let us down.”
Unable to resist his best friend’s stare, Sehun grudgingly deflates. “Fine,” he sighs, trying to sound bitter, but Jongin shoots him a grateful smile before ducking out of the room, and his resolve crumbles even further.
Skeptical as he may be, Sehun knows they’re pretty desperate, and this mystery band is kind of their only hope. If Lost Planet agree to do the gig, it’s not really going to matter if he likes them or not - which, he supposes, gives him free reign to dislike them as much as he wants. He sets his jaw and stares resolutely at the wall, trying his best to ignore the others’ excited chattering and, fainter, the sound of Jongin in the next room, laughing into his phone.
It doesn’t really work.
--
Lost Planet’s venue for that night is a decently-sized theatre, not somewhere Black Pearl has played before but still just as artsy-looking as Sehun expects it to be. There’s still a few hours before doors open, so it’s easy enough to find parking and make their way inside, especially with Junmyeon in the lead, looking professional enough in his more-business-than-casual business casual to allow them to go unquestioned.
Soon enough they’re pushing through a final set of doors into the actual theatre, with rows and rows of seats leading up to the elevated stage. It doesn’t look like much with the lights on, and the mess of mic stands and extension cords suggest the band is only part way through setting up. There are a few boys on stage fiddling with instrument cases who Sehun supposes are the band members, and one shorter guy on the ground, directing them. He turns around when Sehun and the others approach, and immediately breaks into a grin. “Jongin!” he calls, abandoning his post by the stage to bound over and hug him.
Jongin returns the hug before stepping back, the two of them beaming at each other. “Guys, this is Jongdae,” he says, somehow managing it around his massive grin. “He’s Lost Planet’s manager.”
Jongdae finally seems to notice the rest of the band behind Jongin. “You brought friends!” he crows. Sehun feels his nerves grating already.
“Yeah, this is Black Pearl,” Jongin says excitedly, and quickly introduces each of the members.
Jongdae smiles at each of them in turn but raises his eyebrows at Junmyeon, looking him up and down. “Who’s the suit?”
“Our manager,” Jongin answers, trying not to laugh.
Junmyeon looks more surprised than insulted though, and Sehun thinks his face might be a little pink when he shakes Jongdae’s hand. “I don’t know how much Jongin told you,” he starts, trailing off when Jongdae gives him a confused expression.
“Told me what?” he asks, looking back and forth between him and Jongin.
“I didn’t actually say anything,” Jongin admits sheepishly. “I didn’t know how to bring it up.”
Behind his back, Baekhyun catches Sehun’s gaze and rolls his eyes. Sehun resists the urge to do the same.
“We have a proposition,” Junmyeon says, and Jongdae perks up immediately.
“What, like a gig deal?”
“More or less, there’s just some things that--”
Something on stage clangs loudly, making them all jump, and the boy behind the drumkit gives them an apologetic wave before he bends to pick up the cymbals he dropped. Junmyeon smiles weakly, then turns back to Jongdae. “Is there somewhere we can talk that’s a little, uh, quieter?”
Jongdae beckons for him to follow, then leads Junmyeon up onto the stage and past the curtains on one side. Jongin, Chanyeol and Baekhyun also head to the stage, greeting the other band and starting to help them with set up. Sehun watches them go, then turns and walks in the opposite direction.
He goes back the way they came, up through the rows of seats to a door near the back, propped open with a chair so the outside breeze filters in. Stepping through the opening, he takes a deep breath of fresh air and leans back against the wall of the building. It’s a little bit cold, but the sound from the stage doesn’t echo all the way outside, so Sehun figures he can deal with it.
Sighing, he tips his head back. There are so many places he’d rather be than here. He knows this is their only option and all that - he can’t not know at this point, with the other members reminding him every time he so much as frowns - but that doesn’t mean he’s completely alright with letting this random indie band open for them, like Baekhyun and Chanyeol seem to be. Jongin at least has the excuse of already knowing the band, but the other two are too enthusiastic about this whole ordeal for Sehun’s liking.
There’s nothing he can do, though, not unless he goes back inside, which he refuses to do until Junmyeon comes back with an answer. He can already imagine the other members telling him he’s just being stubborn, and maybe he is - but mostly, he just wants to go back home so he can sulk about this in peace. Of course, it’s right after this thought that he’s interrupted by someone poking their head out the door.
Some short guy, not someone Sehun had seen on the stage before, leans out and peers around, his ridiculous honey-coloured hair getting ruffled a little by the breeze. He looks up at Sehun with a frown. “Have you seen Jongdae?”
He must be venue staff, Sehun guesses. It would explain the weird hair colour. An artsy theatre like this probably attracted weird indie employees to deal with the weird indie bands. “Somewhere backstage,” he answers shortly, and the guy nods before moving to duck back inside.
“Hey,” Sehun calls after him, waiting until he leans out the door again before continuing. “When you find him, can you tell him and the guy he’s with to hurry it up? We don’t have time to wait around all day.”
Staff-guy gives him a weird smile and, to Sehun’s surprise, steps over the chair to join him against the wall. Up close, Sehun can see beyond his fluffy bangs, taking in his bright eyes and long lashes. Ridiculously long. To match his ridiculous hair, Sehun supposes.
“You’re from Black Pearl, right?” Staff-guy asks, bringing Sehun back to the present. He’s a little thrown that this random indie kid apparently recognizes him, but it’s not a bad thing - maybe their fanbase is expanding, or something.
“Yeah,” he answers slowly. “Oh Sehun, lead guitar.”
Staff-guy waves that off. “The rest of your band is inside, you know.”
Sehun scoffs, crossing his arms. “I know where they are.”
“So why are you out here instead?”
“Because we’re not here to help,” Sehun huffs.
Staff-guy cocks his head a little, eyebrows raised. “Then what are you here for?”
Sehun supposes there’s nothing wrong with ranting to a stranger for a bit - Black Pearl won’t be coming back to this venue, anyway. “I’m here to avoid meeting the members of some weird indie band I don’t care about while our manager tries to make a deal with theirs.” He glares down at the ground. “It’s pointless to get acquainted if we’re only doing one show and then going separate ways.”
“Your bandmates don’t seem to care,” Staff-guy says, glancing at the door.
“Well, I do.” Sehun looks up at him, eyes narrowed. “Don’t you have something to be doing? I thought you were looking for Jongdae.”
Staff-guy shrugs, pushing off from the wall and climbing back over the chair in the doorway. Sehun leans back again, prepared to be left alone, but the now-familiar head of honey-hair peeks back out. “Are you coming?”
Sehun gives him a strange look. “Why would I?”
“You don’t have to,” he says, already stepping away. “I just thought, since you said you had a message for our managers...”
Sehun blinks a few times, processing his words before he catches on. “Our--? Wait, what?” He dashes forward, hopping over the chair and catching the guy’s shoulder before he can start walking away. “What the hell are you talking about? I thought you were--”
“Lost Planet’s vocalist,” the guy says, holding out his hand with a smile. “I’m Luhan. Nice to meet you.”
Sehun’s fingers slip off his shoulder. Of course, who else could the random stranger possibly be, other than a member of the band he was just complaining about? Whatever game the universe is playing, Sehun hopes it’s having a really good time watching him partake in the most awkward handshake of his life.
As soon as Sehun lets go, Luhan spins around and starts to walk again, leaving Sehun to hurry after him as they head toward the stage. He’s not sure if he should say anything, or apologize - Luhan had smiled at him, hadn’t he? Did that mean he wasn’t upset?
“Uh,” he starts, words sticking in his throat. “What I said outside, I didn’t really-- I was just--”
“Don’t worry about it,” Luhan cuts him off, glancing back over his shoulder. “I mean, it doesn’t matter to me. I’m not too sure how the other members are gonna feel about some broody guitarist saying he doesn’t want anything to do with them, though - especially when we’re supposed to be making some sort of gig deal with you?” He hums for a moment, and Sehun’s heart sinks. “Nevermind. Maybe worry about it.”
Sehun tries his best not to panic as he follows Luhan up to the stage and past the curtains, mentally running through all he had said outside. Did he really just mess up this whole deal, their only hope for the show tomorrow night and Black Pearl’s reputation afterwards? Baekhyun would flay him alive, and even Junmyeon would probably help.
He shakes his head, trying to focus on more realistic repercussions, but his mind runs away with them. What if they can’t play the show at all, or they do but lose the crowd, lose their fans? What if they can’t sell anymore, and the label drops them? Or what if, after all of it, Black Pearl ends up disbanding--
Luhan looks back at him, eyes widening at Sehun’s sickly expression. “Whoa, I’m kidding,” he laughs. “I’m not gonna go announce to my members that you hate them, seriously.”
Sehun feels his face heating up a little, and scowls at him to offset it. On the inside he’s heaving a massive sigh of relief, but Luhan doesn’t need to know that. “I don’t hate them, I don’t even know them.”
“Exactly,” Luhan says with a grin. “Once you do, you’ll probably change your mind. For now, though, it doesn’t really matter. Besides,” he adds, glancing back once more as he leads Sehun through the sidestage, “you already broke your own rule and got acquainted with me.”
Sehun pauses mid-step, dumbfounded for a split second before he recovers and focuses a glare at the back of Luhan’s head. He’s right, Sehun has to admit, but he’s also being annoying about it, and seems to be very aware of that fact. Whatever, Sehun huffs to himself, following Luhan up to a door marked ‘Green Room’. If Lost Planet’s hipster vocalist wants to be a pain in the ass, so be it. Sehun has dealt with enough sideshow douchebags to know he can handle this.
Luhan doesn’t bother knocking before he pushes the door open, and a bit of the managers’ conversation reaches Sehun’s ears, zoning him back in.
“We can’t pay you the full amount,” Junmyeon is explaining sheepishly. “Our other opener asked for half up front, and some of the festival expenses still aren’t covered.”
“Was Chaser part of the lineup for that, too?” Jongdae asks, and Junmyeon nods.
“Although, I don’t know if they’re still--”
“Need something?” Jongdae asks, cutting Junmyeon off when he notices Luhan and Sehun standing in the doorway.
“We’re ready for soundcheck,” Luhan tells him, then starts back towards the stage. Sehun follows, making sure to glare at him a little more before joining the other members already on stage, but then Junmyeon and Jongdae reappear, the latter clapping his hands loudly.
“Band meeting!” he cries, shooing Junmyeon and the Black Pearl members off the stage. Sehun shoots him a glare too, but follows Jongin down the steps and into a small huddle around Junmyeon. On the stage, the members of Lost Planet are doing the same around Jongdae while he waves his arms.
“Well?” Baekhyun whispers anxiously, bringing Sehun’s attention back to his own band. “Did he say yes?”
“I don’t know yet,” Junmyeon says with a shrug. “Let’s give him a chance to talk to the band, and then--”
“We’ll do it,” Jongdae announces from the stage, and the others whip around to stare at him.
“Seriously?” Chanyeol squeaks, grinning from ear to ear.
“If,” Jongdae continues, holding up a hand, “you get us into the festival lineup.”
There’s a brief silence, which Sehun breaks with a scoff. “You’ve got to be joking.”
Jongdae shakes his head, smirking. “Bring Lost Planet to Pentaport Rock Festival, and we’ll do the gig tomorrow night.”
Sehun has to hold back the urge to laugh out loud. “The festival is in like two weeks, we can’t just ask them to change the lineup--”
“Actually,” Junmyeon cuts in, “maybe we can. If Chaser drops out, there will be an empty space in the program. I’m sure the festival organizers wouldn’t have a problem with us suggesting a band to fill it.”
“You can’t seriously be considering this,” Sehun groans, but Baekhyun shushes him.
“What if Chaser doesn’t drop out, though?” Chanyeol asks.
“As it happens, a few of the organizers are family friends,” Junmyeon says with a sly smile. “Trust me, Chaser won’t be playing.”
Both bands ooh in appreciation. Even Sehun has to admit that their manager can pull some pretty impressive punches sometimes.
Grinning, Jongdae hops off the stage and trots over to them. He stops in front of Junmyeon and sticks his hand out. “Do we have a deal, then?”
He waggles his eyebrows. Junmyeon swallows audibly.
Sehun expects something dramatic to happen when they shake hands, some sign that shows the gravity of the agreement made, but there’s nothing. His bandmates cheer a little, the Lost Planet members high-five each other, and Junmyeon blushes some more, but the air in the venue still feels the same and Sehun is almost disappointed.
He glances at the stage and locks eyes with Luhan, who smiles brightly at him. Sehun frowns and turns away, shoving his hands in his pockets. He does feel a bit more annoyed than he had pre-handshake, he supposes. Maybe that’s enough of a sign.
“What do you think?” Jongin asks later, as they make their way back to Junmyeon’s car. He’s almost vibrating with excitement, a genuine bounce in his step. Sehun grimaces. “They’re great, right? They haven’t changed at all since I last saw them.”
“They seem cool,” Chanyeol says brightly. “I wish we could’ve stayed for their set tonight, though. I really want to hear that one song Yixing was talking about.”
“You’ll probably hear it tomorrow night,” Baekhyun reminds him. Sehun rolls his eyes.
“At least if we stayed we’d know what to expect,” he grumbles, shoving his hands in his pockets. “We still have no clue if they even sound good. I mean, at least Chaser played rock.”
“Yeah, but Chaser also screwed us over royally,” Baekhyun says sweetly. “We don’t have time to audition a bunch of punk rock boybands for tomorrow night, and Lost Planet is offering their help right now. We’d be stupid to say no.”
Sehun scowls and looks away, but he knows Baekhyun is right.
“What about you?” Chanyeol asks Junmyeon, who’s been staring off to space the whole walk across the parking lot.
“Cute,” Junmyeon says, a little dreamily. Everyone stops and turns to stare at him, and he blinks a few times, zoning back in. “I - I mean,” he stutters, cheeks flushing, “their... style is cute. Lyrics and sound and… yeah.”
“I agree!” Chanyeol says, grinning again. By then they’ve reached the car, and Junmyeon takes the opportunity to hide his face while he fumbles with his keys.
Jongin leans closer to Sehun, cupping his hands to whisper to him. “Did he even hear them play anything?”
“Definitely not,” Sehun whispers back, and the two of them hide snickers behind their hands as they’re ushered into the car by a still pink-faced Junmyeon.
--
After a lot of rushing around, calling the venue and changing signs and whatever other incredibly-last-minute changes had to be made, the gig is finally good to go with Lost Planet opening. Judging by the line of people waiting that they drive past when they arrive at the venue, Sehun figures there’s not much love lost between Black Pearl and their fans.
He’s still a little nervous about the whole indie-band-genre-clash thing, but is making an effort not to let it show. Earlier he had debated purposefully showing up late and missing Lost Planet’s set, but Junmyeon had apparently read his mind and insisted on giving Sehun a lift to the venue himself. His vague plan foiled, Sehun had decided to make the most of the situation, annoying as it is.
They’re a bit late anyway, thanks to traffic, and by the time Sehun and Junmyeon arrive backstage, everything is already set up and both bands are lounging on the couches in the green room. It’s kind of stuffy with eleven guys in one room, but Sehun has played in shittier venues than this one, so he’ll take what he can get.
He joins Jongin in one corner, sliding his guitar case off his shoulders and setting it down on the floor to unzip. “About time,” Jongin says, looking up from his half-tuned bass to smirk at him. “I was worried you were gonna show up halfway through the set.”
“I considered it,” Sehun says, impassive.
“Come on,” Jongin laughs. “This is just like any other show. Once you get onstage, you’ll forget you were ever dreading it.”
“I’m not dreading it,” Sehun huffs, gripping the tuning pegs just a little tighter than he should. “I’m just… apprehensive.”
Jongin frowns. “You said you would give them a chance,” he reminds him.
Sehun doesn’t look up, glowering at his guitar strings instead. “It’ll be fine,” Jongin insists. “Lost Planet is--”
“Lost Planet is what?” someone asks from behind them, and Sehun whips his head around to stare up at the intruder on their conversation.
It’s Luhan. Of course it’s Luhan. He walks right past Sehun and over to Jongin, slumping down on the floor and leaning heavily against him. “Super impressive?” he suggests. “Amazingly talented? Incredibly humble?”
“Don’t fish for compliments,” Jongin snickers, nudging him away. Luhan pouts and looks over at Sehun instead, smiling when he catches his gaze. He’s wearing eyeliner, like Baekhyun sometimes does for performances. Luhan must apply it differently than he does, though - Sehun is pretty sure makeup has never made Baekhyun’s eyes stand out like Luhan’s do, bright and almost intense, deep even from a distance.
Sehun makes himself look away, back down at his guitar as he hastily plugs into an amp. He strums a few times, checking his tuning while conveniently drowning out Jongin and Luhan’s conversation.
“Your B string is a little flat,” someone pipes up next to his ear, making him jump. He glares up at the newcomer, a boy in a sweater with an acoustic guitar slung over his back. “Sorry, did I startle you?”
“No,” Sehun grumbles. The boy hums and crouches down next to him, carefully running one finger over the headstock of Sehun’s guitar and pulling his hand back before Sehun can jerk away.
“It’s really nice,” he says, giving Sehun a dimpled smile. “You must take really good care of it. You’re Sehun, right?”
Sehun nods, relaxing a little. “And you’re…” He pauses, fishing around for the names Chanyeol had told him the night before. “Yixing?”
“Yes!” Yixing says, clapping his hands. “I play guitar, same as you.”
He seems very excited about the whole thing. Sehun doesn’t really understand why, but at the same time it’s refreshing to see someone so enthusiastic.
“Have you met the others?” Yixing asks, and when Sehun shakes his head he jumps to his feet with another smile and gestures for him to follow. Sehun surprises himself with how fast he puts his guitar down and stands up to join him.
“That’s Kyungsoo,” Yixing says, pointing at a boy sitting next to Baekhyun on one of the couches, “our bassist. Beside him is Zitao--”
“Drummer,” Sehun says, watching him tap his feet like kick pedals. Two seats over, Chanyeol has the same habit.
Yixing nods, turning him in another direction. “Over there, speaking with your manager, is Minseok. He’s keyboards and synthesizer. While we’re in Korea, we stay at his house.
“And this,” he continues, turning Sehun around again and leading him back to where he was originally sitting, “is Lu--”
“Luhan,” Sehun says flatly. Luhan grins up at him, still leaning on Jongin. “I know him already.”
“You haven’t heard us play yet, have you?” Yixing asks, somehow still absolutely stoked. “I hope we surpass your expectations.”
“That won’t be hard,” Luhan yawns. Sehun glares at him.
“Sehun is just a little worried about both bands’ sounds clashing,” Jongin explains, but Sehun can tell he’s trying not to laugh at Luhan’s dramatic eye-roll.
“I don’t like my music to have twang,” Sehun says defensively.
“Ah, you’re thinking indie-folk,” Yixing explains. “We’re more indie-pop. Or indie-pop-rock? One of those.”
“Great,” Sehun deadpans.
The door to the stage is suddenly thrown open and Jongdae rushes in, looking a little frazzled but more ecstatic than anything. “Five minutes,” he announces, and around the room the Lost Planet members stand up to gather their instruments and head out.
Jongin pokes Luhan in the leg as he’s brushing himself off. “Good luck out there.”
“You too, for later,” Luhan says. He turns to Sehun, lips quirked. “You’ll be watching us, right?”
“Maybe,” Sehun answers shortly, looking away with a frown. “Maybe not.”
Luhan shrugs and follows the others to the door, throwing Jongin an exaggerated wink before he disappears. Sehun frowns deeper.
Greeted by a wall of noise from the audience, Lost Planet take the stage. Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Jongin rush off to watch from behind the sidestage curtains but Sehun stays in the green room, stubbornly pacing back and forth. He manages to hold out for two full songs before his curiosity gets the better of him, and he sneaks out to join the others where they’re peeking out at the stage. He’s pretty sure Jongin rolls his eyes at him, but backstage is all but pitch black, so he pretends he didn’t see it and instead focuses on Lost Planet’s performance.
They’re pretty good; still not rock music, but Sehun does have to admit their sound is a lot farther from folk than what he was expecting, which is a relief. The crowd is responding well, yelling their lungs out over the noise of the band. Sehun wonders if any of them are Lost Planet fans that managed to get tickets at the last minute. He tries to shift a little to look out at the audience, maybe see if he can spot any signs for them being held up, but Luhan steps into his line of vision instead.
Under the stage lights, he’s captivating. Sehun can’t hear many of the words he sings over the screaming crowd and Zitao’s drumbeats, but he can watch him move, jumping in place along with the floor-seaters and striding purposefully across the stage to press up back-to-back against Yixing. Sehun barely glances at the other members though, and his eyes follow Luhan for the whole song. He has presence unlike anything Sehun has ever seen - the music is enough, but Luhan makes the stage come alive beneath his feet.
“See?” Chanyeol whispers, popping up beside him. “They don’t even have a ukulele player.”
Sehun smacks him and looks back at the stage, but the song is ending and the moment is over. As Luhan bows to the audience, Sehun can just see the edge of the bright smile on his face.
He doesn’t have time to dwell on it though - Lost Planet’s set is over two songs later and the fifteen minutes before Black Pearl goes on is taken up by last-second tuning and mic checks. Before he knows it, Sehun is waiting behind the sidestage curtains again with the other three members, the familiar weight of his guitar settled in his arms.
Baekhyun steps up beside him and tugs on his elbow, drawing him a few feet away from Chanyeol and Jongin. “Listen,” he says, voice low enough for only Sehun to hear, “I know for the last couple days we’ve both been stressed as hell, and I just wanna say sorry, okay?” He looks down, fiddling with the wire for his in-ear monitor. “I didn’t mean to be that much of a dick.”
“Alright,” Sehun says blankly. Baekhyun grimaces and smacks his arm.
“I’m gonna take that as an ‘I’m sorry too’, asshole,” he grumbles, but there’s a grin on his face and Sehun can’t help smiling back.
It’s then that the lights start to dim, and the growing noise of the crowd reaches Sehun’s ears as he’s ushered onto the stage. The members take their places in the dark, quiet for a moment before Chanyeol’s count-in and the first breath Baekhyun takes, and then the stage lights are flashing on and the crowd is roaring, and Sehun doesn’t think about anything except his fingers on the strings and the sound the four of them fill the space with.
--
Kyungsoo is the first one to suggest going out for drinks after the gig, and immediately rises several places in Sehun’s list of good people. Jongin opts out, as usual, preferring to go home and sleep as soon as possible after shows, and Yixing takes Zitao back to Minseok’s place to follow his example, but the rest of the band members head to the closest bar-slash-club.
They manage to fit their whole group - sans Junmyeon and Jongdae, who go up a floor by themselves to discuss the festival - around one table in a booth, a feat of which Chanyeol is especially proud. Looking around at the other musicians, Sehun finds himself feeling pretty good, except for the way Luhan’s bony elbow is getting a little too close to his ribs. A literal pain in his side. Hilarious.
As soon as the first round is distributed and the second is half-downed, Baekhyun pipes up. “So,” he drawls, turning to Luhan with eyebrows raised, “who are you, and how do you know our Jongin?”
Luhan pouts playfully. “You mean he never talked about me?”
“I had literally never heard of you,” Chanyeol chimes in, then frowns a little. “No offense.”
“None taken,” Luhan laughs, then sits up a bit straighter as the whole table’s focus shifts to him. “Jongin and I, we’ve been friends for a long time. We were in a band together, years ago.”
“Wait, you never told us that, either,” Minseok says, narrowing his eyes at his bandmate. Sehun resists the urge to nod along, a little offended that Jongin hadn’t told him, his best friend, about his very first band.
“How many years are we talking about?” Baekhyun asks.
Luhan shrugs, looking sheepish. “Like, during high school.”
“That’s so cool,” Chanyeol says, eyes sparkling. “I was in a band in high school, too! Heavy Noize.” He sighs wistfully. “We won a talent show, once.”
“Well, that’s already more than us,” Luhan admits. “We never really did much aside from deciding on the name.”
“Which was?”
“Uh, Younique Unit.”
Sehun scrunches his nose in distaste while the rest of them burst out laughing. “Just for that, I’ll buy the next round,” Baekhyun announces, clapping Luhan on the shoulder as he stands up.
Sliding out of the booth after him, Sehun follows Baekhyun over to the bar, eager to get away when the conversation seems like it’s going to be centred on Luhan for a while. Baekhyun doesn’t even look surprised, just barely rolling his eyes before he signals the bartender. He doesn’t say anything though, and the quiet while they wait gives Sehun an opportunity to look around the bar.
It’s not terribly crowded, a couple empty tables but a full dance floor, and Sehun glances over a few faces before settling his gaze on a girl at the other end of the bar counter. She’s standing with a few other people, talking and laughing with them. Sehun’s eyes wander from her pretty smile to her wavy hair, following the fall of it over her shoulders. Her shirt seems a little too tight, clinging to her curves and stretching thin over her bust. Sehun lingers on the lines of her bra for a long moment before Baekhyun clears his throat, waving a drink in front of his face.
Mumbling his thanks, Sehun takes the glass and looks back at the girl as he takes a sip. Baekhyun follows his gaze and sighs. “Your taste never changes, does it.”
Sehun glowers at him. “Neither does my ability to score, so shove off.”
Baekhyun just shrugs, smirking as he picks up the tray with the rest of their group’s drinks and starts back to their table. Sehun watches him place it down and hand the glasses out before he leans over to say something to Luhan. Whatever it is, it makes Luhan look over at Sehun with a sly smile, at which point Sehun turns away, refusing to give him any more of his attention.
His eyes find the same girl again, and he tries to focus on her even as he feels someone come up beside him and hears Luhan’s voice ordering a shot. The girl is moving closer to the dance floor, pulling her shirt up a little to better cover her cleavage, but Sehun can already imagine it slipping down again once she starts dancing, even considers getting up and joining her on the floor, asking to buy her a drink--
Luhan taps his shoulder, and Sehun turns around before he can remember not to. Fuck.
“Hi,” Luhan says before he can whip back around. “Is your scoring ability as bad as Baekhyun seems to think?”
Sehun gives him a blank stare. “Do you have a constant need to be on someone’s nerves, or is it just mine?”
Luhan laughs, eyes crinkling. “Sorry,” he says, sounding anything but. “It’s just really easy to tease you about, you know, literally anything.”
He snickers a little more and Sehun glares at him, but its more playful than anything. He even feels himself starting to smile along with Luhan. He blames the alcohol. “What, you only like me ‘cause I’m easy to pick on?”
“Nah,” Luhan sighs, leaning back against the bar. “I like you ‘cause you’re cute.”
Sehun snorts. “Why don’t you go make fun of your own band?”
“I would never,” Luhan gasps, mock-offended. “Plus, none of them would take me as seriously as you do.”
Sehun rolls his eyes, but Luhan keeps going. “Even your bandmates wouldn’t be as fun. Jongin never liked that sort of thing, teasing and stuff. I don’t think Chanyeol would care much... Baekhyun, maybe?” He taps his chin for a moment, then smiles wryly. “But he’s got his guard dog, over there.”
Sehun follows his gaze across the room. Baekhyun is on one side, part of the mass on the dance floor with a guy moving behind him, maybe just a little too close. On the other is Chanyeol, still seated at their table but his eyes are on Baekhyun, watching him move.
“Ah,” Sehun says. “Yeah. That’s a thing.”
Luhan raises his eyebrows. “Are they a thing?”
Sehun shrugs. “Dunno. I’ve never asked.”
“But aren’t you curious?” Luhan asks, looking back at the two of them.
“Not really,” Sehun sighs. The guy dancing with Baekhyun steps closer to him, his hands coming up to slide around his hips, but Baekhyun slips out of his grasp with a playful smirk. “It’s their business, not mine.”
“They’re your bandmates,” Luhan points out. “If they’re unhappy, it’s your business.”
“They’re not unhappy,” Sehun says. It comes out more defensively than he means it to. “Look, this happens all the time. Baek gets drunk and flirts around, Chanyeol gets fed up with it and intervenes. Watch.”
As if on cue, Chanyeol stands up from their table, abruptly enough to startle both Kyungsoo and Minseok, and makes his way to the dance floor. He slides smoothly in between Baekhyun and his new dance partner, breaking them apart with a possessive arm around Baekhyun’s waist. He pulls Baekhyun away from the floor and off to one side of the room, pushing him up against the wall with a serious look on his face.
Baekhyun just smiles up at him, cheeks flushed from alcohol and dancing. He leans in a little to whisper something in Chanyeol’s ear, and when he pulls back to look at him again Chanyeol grabs his hand. With interlocking fingers, they start towards the doors.
“See? It’s fine.”
“Where are they going?” Luhan asks, watching them slip outside.
“Home, probably,” Sehun says, sipping his drink. “Usually they go off and grind somewhere.”
Luhan makes a face. “Too much information.”
“I guess I’m desensitized,” Sehun says. He glances at Luhan, still grimacing, and laughs a little. “What, are your bandmates completely normal?”
“Of course not,” Luhan says. “I don’t think that’s possible in the music industry.”
“That’s fair,” Sehun agrees, and watches Luhan drink his shot before he opens his mouth again. “What about you and Jongin?” he asks. “Were you really in a band together?”
Luhan smirks, putting the shot glass down. “What, you don’t believe me?”
Sehun shrugs. “Jongin never really mentioned you until yesterday, is all.”
“I’m not surprised, to be honest,” Luhan sighs, leaning back against the counter. “The band didn’t last long, since I had to go back to Beijing after high school.”
“So, what, a messy disbandment?” Sehun can’t picture it, not with how Jongin had been smiling and laughing with Luhan earlier.
“Not really. There wasn’t much to disband,” Luhan admits, laughing a little. “I mean, a lot of the time, ‘band practice’ was just as excuse to go make out somewhere.”
Sehun’s brain fizzles a bit. “I-- You and Jongin were--?”
“A thing,” Luhan says simply, shrugging. “We didn’t really have time to make it anything more, because I had to leave, but… we stayed close afterwards. Stayed in touch.”
Sehun keeps his mouth shut, not entirely sure how to react. For all he thought he knew his best friend, he never knew anything about this - the high school band, the breakup, Luhan in general. Surely if it were something he wanted shared, he would’ve told Sehun ages ago. It’s uncomfortable, knowing something which he’s not certain Jongin would want him to know. He’s suddenly very glad that Jongin didn’t end up coming to the bar with them.
“Anyway, if we’re playing twenty questions, it’s my turn,” Luhan says, apparently unfazed by Sehun’s lack of a reaction. “What happened with your other opener?”
Sehun blinks. “Chaser? They fucked off to Busan without telling us.”
“I know that,” Luhan says impatiently, waving his hand. “I mean beforehand.” At Sehun’s strange look, he goes on. “You guys don’t seem to be mourning the loss of them. In fact, your manager looked pretty enthusiastic about screwing them over with the whole festival thing. Did you guys have a falling out?” He narrows his eyes, playful. “Maybe something that made them drop you in the first place?”
“Not really,” Sehun says impassively. “I mean, I punched their drummer in the face this one time, but that was--”
“Sorry,” Luhan cuts him off, looking a little alarmed. “You did what?”
Sehun huffs out a breath. “I broke their drummer’s nose because he called us amateurs.”
Luhan hums, unimpressed. “He was a dick,” Sehun insists.
“But did he really deserve your fist in his face?” Luhan asks. “Just for that?”
“It made him shut up well enough,” Sehun says, crossing his arms on the countertop.
Luhan looks about to say something else but he stops himself, looking down at the counter instead. Their elbows almost brush where they’re both leaning on the bar. Sehun stares at the space between them until Luhan speaks up again. “You’re not gonna punch our drummer in the face, are you? Baby Zitao?”
“Not unless he gives me a reason to,” Sehun answers.
Luhan snorts, shaking his head a little, and looks up to signal the bartender. He orders two more shots, downing one immediately but sliding the other across the counter to Sehun.
“I get that you’ve had to deal with some difficult people,” he says when Sehun looks up, “but I want you to know that we’re different. Lost Planet will have your back for as long as we’re working together.”
Sehun bites down on the urge to tell him how short he expects that time to be. He watches Luhan stand up, but looks away when he turns to face him.
“I hope we get the chance to show you,” Luhan says. He sounds like he’s smiling.
By the time Sehun lifts his head to check, Luhan is already across the room, joining Minseok and Kyungsoo on their way to the door. Sehun shakes his head and looks down at the shot glass still in front of him, not sure why he feels so thrown off. They were both well on their way to drunk anyway, he tells himself, and Luhan probably didn’t know what he was saying any more than Sehun did.
In the meantime, he does his best to block out Luhan’s words, throwing back the shot and focusing on the other end of the bar, where the girl from earlier has appeared again. It’s easy enough to move to that end and order a drink from there, offering one to her once he knows he’s caught her eye, then asking her to join him in a booth instead. Even easier after that to get her to lean in close enough for him to brush his lips over her neck.
He stutters a little when he looks into her eyes up close, taking in her long lashes and sharp lines of makeup and remembering how Luhan’s eyes had been rimmed in black the same way earlier. He’s not sure where the thought comes from, it just pops up unbidden and then won’t go away, so Sehun kisses her to mute it. This way, he won’t have to look.
He gets halfway into her shirt, and her halfway into his jeans, before the bar starts closing. Sehun puts his arm around her as the two of them leave, uncaring of the rest of the late-night patrons as he teases the thin strap of her shirt. She pushes him away, giggling, when they reach the sidewalk. Sehun takes the opportunity to pause, letting the cold night air floods into his chest.
It feels nice, after spending the day in crowded spaces like the venue and the club, like filtering his lungs but also his mind, and all that both parts have taken in over the day. The simple but much-needed cleanse leaves him a lot calmer, but also suddenly and sorely exhausted.
The girl slides her hands up to his shoulders and leans in, but she’s frowning, biting her lip. Sehun wonders for a moment if she feels it too, but kisses her anyway.
She breaks it first. They each let out one more breath in each other’s space before she pulls back, and Sehun lets her go.
--
It’s late when Sehun finally gets home. He kicks off his shoes by the door and shuffles down the hall, eager to fall into bed and forget about everything until the morning.
A light in the living room is still on when he walks past, and he peeks in to see Baekhyun curled up on one end of the couch, staring blankly at the muted TV across from him. One hand is raised to his mouth, absently brushing his fingertips across his lips.
He looks up when Sehun steps into the room, giving him a tired sort of smile. “Hey. Back already?”
“Yeah,” Sehun replies after a moment. His mouth feels weird, tingly. He should probably brush his teeth.
“Where’s that girl you were with?” Baekhyun asks, peering around Sehun like he might be hiding her in his coat. “The one with the - the amazing tits, what happened to her?”
“I got her a cab,” Sehun says flatly. “Where’s your boyfriend?”
Baekhyun seems startled by the question, but recovers a second later and narrows his eyes. “I think you drank too much,” he says stiffly.
“Probably,” Sehun agrees. There’s a wobble in his legs that’s either from intoxication or exhaustion, he’s not sure which.
He leaves Baekhyun alone again while he stumbles through his night-time routine, and by the time he’s properly ready for sleep both the TV and the living room light are off. There’s something about it that is worth thinking about, Sehun knows, but his mind is too cloudy to think much about anything beyond crawling under his blankets and closing his eyes.
After a brief wish against morning ashtray-mouth, he falls asleep. He dreams of people dancing, of laughter too far away to put a name to, and of sparkling eyes outlined in black.
--
Black Pearl’s last week before the music festival is full of preparations and rehearsals, readying themselves for both the journey and the performance. They all know it’s necessary, but that doesn’t make it any less tiring, and when Junmyeon tells them the day before they leave is for resting up, Sehun is prepared to take the longest nap of his life.
Or, he is, until he sees Jongin slipping his shoes on by the door, and demands to know why he isn’t already asleep. It turns out, Jongin tells him cheerily, that Lost Planet have been doing some last-minute preparations themselves, and one of them is the short open mic slot at a local cafe that Yixing and Luhan are going to perform at. Jongin is going to watch, of course, because he’s a supportive friend like that. Sehun decides to tag along.
He’s not entirely sure why; he still thinks longingly of his bed as they walk down the street, but he supposes it’s worth it to spend some time with Jongin. Lately the whole band has been together all day every day, so going out just the two of them is a welcome change.
The downside is that, as soon as he’s alone with Jongin, Sehun immediately starts to think of what Luhan had told him at the bar. Recently all of their conversations have somehow come back to Lost Planet or to Luhan in particular, and it’s constantly on the tip of Sehun’s tongue to ask Jongin about his past with him.
Like right now, only a couple blocks away from the cafe. Unable to hold in his curiosity, Sehun steers his thoughts away from words like ex-boyfriend and tries for something that sounds a little more innocent. “So… how do you know Luhan, anyway?”
“We had a band together, if you can believe it,” Jongin laughs. “It was kind of brief, though. Luhan left Korea after high school, so we had to disband. We still stayed in touch afterwards, sent each other music and stuff… Oh, that reminds me,” he says suddenly, turning to Sehun with a grin. “I have copies of Lost Planet’s first few EPs, if you want to listen? They’re even signed, because Luhan is a moron like that.”
“Sure,” Sehun says, hoping he sounds it more than he feels it. Jongin beams.
There’s a long pause that Sehun is pretty sure he should fill with something, but part of him is waiting for Jongin to continue, to throw something in like ‘oh yeah, we also dated’, but he just goes on smiling instead, completely oblivious. They reach the cafe before Sehun can break the silence, and he decides to just keep his mouth shut as Jongin eagerly pulls him inside.
There’s a decent crowd for such a small shop, so they stand near the back with a clear view over the other spectators’ heads of the makeshift stage. Luhan and Yixing have a stool each, with two microphones on stands in front. Luhan is adjusting Yixing’s when he looks up and spots them, and gives them a small but excited wave. Sehun takes in the bright smile on his face and immediately forgets what he had just been talking about. After a few more minutes of fumbling with microphones, Luhan gives a short introduction and Yixing starts to play. A hush settles over everyone watching, Jongin and Sehun included.
Their set is nice, Sehun grudgingly admits. Indie music is still weird and definitely not his favourite, but Luhan’s voice is… nice. He sings every song in Mandarin and while Sehun can’t understand a word of it, he can tell it flows easier. The foreign words wash over him in Luhan’s sweet tone and Sehun concedes, with some tiny part of himself, that he’s glad he came to listen.
Walking home later, he tunes out Jongin’s gushing about the set and looks up at the darkening sky, breathing in the night air. It feels like a reprieve before something shifts - and, he supposes, not without good reason: this time tomorrow, Black Pearl will be at Pentaport to play for one of their biggest-ever crowds.
Lost Planet will be there too, Sehun reminds himself, but he’s not sure how to feel about that, not anymore. Their show together went well, better than he was expecting. His original worries turned out to be unnecessary, and he can’t deny that both bands get along well - not even just the other Black Pearl members, but himself included.
Things could change, though. Sehun still feels a little uneasy, and he still worries that if they rely on this band and something goes wrong, the aftermath will mostly affect Black Pearl. He trusted Chaser once, and that already came back to bite him.
Even with all this swirling in his head, there’s still something in the back of his mind trying to be reassuring. Maybe it’ll be nice to have another band at the festival with them, a group they can count on. Maybe, after all this, Black Pearl will benefit from having Lost Planet around.
And maybe along the way, he can find out if Luhan annoys him or not - he can’t decide on that, either.
part 2