Chapter Text
The final song had already begun and the stadium seemed like it had lost whatever sense of reality it had left.
The entire venue was illuminated by lightsticks, fireworks, and the bright colors of Stay’s outfits as they danced along to the rhythm of the music.
Felix had been smiling most of the night, but as the final chorus to Star Lost started playing, he couldn’t help but get giddy as he dangled his legs off the side of the stage where the fans were reaching up, trying to grab at him.
He recognized the girl with the pink bow. She had worn it at their last concert too, and the one before that. She had made it herself, even gluing little Bbokari charms to it. A little further down was the boy who always brought a handmade sign, cheering on Felix especially. Felix even recognized a group of friends who all stood together in matching outfits, trying to hide a slight frown when he noticed one of them wasn’t at the concert today.
He pointed towards them, their reaction immediate.
Hyunjin had noticed the interaction from farther down the stage and smiled when he saw Felix practically glowing.
"There he goes again," he said when he caught up with Changbin.
Changbin glanced toward Felix before laughing. "He's going to make someone cry."
“I think that’s the goal.”
As he pointed, a girl who was wearing all red covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes widening as her friends grabbed her by the shoulders and began jumping around her. Felix laughed, waving until he was pulled up by Lee Know to join him in the final formations.
The two of them bumped shoulders before moving back into position, and when the music swelled into the final chorus, all eight members found themselves gathered closer together.
There were people crying, people laughing, people holding signs with messages he had seen a hundred variations of over the years.
‘Thank you,’ ‘we love you,’ ‘you saved me.’
Chan’s chest tightened.
Even though he had heard those words so many times, they had never lost their meaning to him. If anything, they meant even more every time.
The final note rang through the stadium in sync with an encore of fireworks. For a second, everything went quiet. But then, the crowd erupted.
The stage was filled with confetti, silver pieces catching in the light and the hair of the members as they slowly drifted down. Han immediately started laughing, throwing his arms around the closest members– Minho and Felix. The crowd screamed as Changbin nearly tackled Seungmin into a hug and Hyunjin pulled the maknae to his hip, pinching his cheeks as the camera focused on them.
Eventually everyone separated enough to face the crowd again.
Chan lifted his microphone.
“STAY!”
He laughed, shaking his head lovingly as the screams grew louder.
The members exchanged excited looks, waiting for the crowd to settle down so their leader can continue speaking.
“Every time we come here, every time we see you..." He paused, smiling softly as the crowd hushed to hear his words. "It still feels like a dream."
Han lowered his head, blinking rapidly to hold back tears. Chan continued, “So thank you!”
He took a breath.
“For staying with us.”
He stepped back into the line of 7 other members, grabbing their hands so signal it was time to bow.
They remained there for a few seconds as the crowd chanted their names. It really was everything an artist could ever dream of.
It was the kind of night any individual at the concert would remember forever. The kind of night fans will keep posting about afterward, filling up their social media with the pictures, videos, and paragraphs of how happy they were, as well as their favorite fan theories based on how the members were reacting together.
The members eventually moved their way off stage, skip in their step as they high fived, hugged, and waved towards their audience one last time.
The moment they breached the wings, the atmosphere changed. Not anything the fans could notice of course, just a wave of silence that only the boys would notice.
The outro music faded behind them as they walked through the backstage corridors, still riding the high of the performance.
Staff members followed them from every direction—removing their mic packs, carrying equipment, passing them water, electrolytes, snacks— personalized to each member.
Someone threw Hyunjin a towel, which he immediately used to wipe the sweat off his face, before letting it rest upon his shoulders, collecting what was still dripping off the ends of his hair.
“Someone please kill me,” Jisung groaned, dramatically dragging his feet behind him. “I can’t feel my legs anymore.”
“You were the one jumping around nonstop still during the encore,” Sengmin reminded him slyly, adding his own quip, “you dug your own grave.”
“I was possessed!” He shot back, in defense.
Seungmin rolled his eyes, “by what?”
“Love.” He responded with a sigh.
Minho scoffed, but Hyunjin pushed forward past him, moving an arm around his dongsaeng.
“That’s beautiful Hannie.”
“Here they go again.”
The laughter that followed was easy and familiar. Their exhaustion only fueled their ridiculous attitudes, everyone bantering off of each other.
Chan walked behind the group, observing his team and making sure they’re all falling in line properly and not getting lost on their way to the dressing room. Jeongin was closest by him, his mood appearing a little off, noticed only by the leader.
A staff member had passed him a change of shoes earlier— he always preferred having his feet in breathable slippers after a show—and he was carrying a bottle of Gatorade Zero in his hands, his clothes still damp with sweat.
“You did good tonight,” Bang Chan said in a low voice, making sure the maknae knew the compliment was directed at him specifically.
I.N glanced over. “Thanks Chan. There’s definitely some things I would do differently though.”
Chan slowed a little, genuine curiosity in his tone. “Like what?”
Ahead of them, the members continued walking, their voices growing louder, not noticing how the two in the back had slowed down.
Jeongin muttered under his breath. “I just feel like Stay wasn’t as responsive tonight.”
Chan’s expression darkened, completely halting in his step now.
“What did you just say?”
I.N turned, looking over his shoulder at the oldest.
“What?”
Chan stared at him. “I said, what did you just say?”
There was a brief pause.
Then I.N laughed awkwardly and reached out, giving Chan a light smack against the shoulder.
"Chill. I didn't mean it like that."
The shove was playful. Well… it looked playful.
But Chan didn’t laugh. Instead he grabbed Jeongin by his collar, giving the maknae no time to react before his back hit the cool concrete wall.
The thud echoed throughout the otherwise empty hallway.
At this point, the other members noticed something was wrong and turned to look back, slowing down to decide if they needed to step in or if this was one of those moments where they should just turn a blind eye and let Chan do his thing.
I.N’s eyes widened. “Hyung-“
The teasing expression was gone from his eyes now.
“-seriously, I didn’t mean it.”
Farther ahead, Han stepped forward, smile disappearing on his face. However, an arm reached across his chest and stopped him from moving towards the boys.
Lee Know gave a knowing glance to Changbin, the two eldest exchanging a silent conversation. Changbin turned Jisung around with a smile, trying to lighten the mood as he pushed the rest of the group forwards.
“Come on guys, let’s grab a bite to eat!”
The remaining four paused for a second, trying to decide if this was the right thing to do before shrugging and going along with him into the dressing room.
Lee Know stayed behind.
He waited until the door had shut behind the others before turning back around.
Chan still had I.N pinned against the wall, his hand twisted tightly into the fabric of the younger member’s shirt, noses basically touching as the younger tried to shy away from Chan’s grasp. Neither of them seemed particularly interested in acknowledging that Lee Know was standing there now.
For a few seconds, he only watched, trying to catch any hints to what could have started this argument.
Chan growled something along the lines of, “You can’t talk about them like that. They’re perfect.”
Lee Know sighed. That’s why.
He walked towards them, feigning ignorance.
“What’s this all about?”
Chan didn’t answer.
His eyes remained fixed on I.N.
Lee Know took another step forward, his voice more stern this time.
“Chan.”
Nothing.
“Let him go.”
There was something about the way he said it that made Bang Chan finally give him a glance.
Lee Know wasn’t angry, but he sure as hell wasn’t scared of the leader either.
If anything, he almost looked bored.
“Hyung-“ I.N said quietly, this time directed at Minho- “it’s fine.”
Lee Know’s eyes flickered briefly towards the youngest.
“I wasn’t asking you.”
Chan’s grip tightened for a second, staring back at the dark haired boy, who clearly noticed the change.
“You heard what he said?”
Minho nodded. “I did.”
“And?”
His expression didn’t change. “And I’m telling you to let him go.”
For a second, Chan looked like he was going to argue back again, but instead, he loosened his grip, fingers loosening as Jeongin stepped away from the wall, smoothing out his shirt. He stood looking at his oldest friends, trying to decide if he should stay around or run away as quick as he could.
The tension between the eldest was strong. It was like watching two alphas fight for territory. Without breaking eye contact, Lee Know tilted his head, giving the youngest his cue to leave.
“Go.”
With that, Jeongin scurried down the hallway, meeting the rest in the dressing room.
The door swung shut behind him, leaving the two oldest alone in the corridor.
The noise from the dressing room was muffled through the thick door, the occasional burst of laughter barely audible from where they stood. It was almost strange how normal everything sounded on the other side. Like nothing had happened. Like Chan hadn’t just had his youngest member pinned against a wall less than thirty seconds ago.
Minho finally turned his attention back to him.
“What was that?”
Chan looked away.
“He said something stupid.”
“That doesn't answer my question.”
Chan's gaze drifted toward the hallway leading back toward the stage. Even though the curtains had already closed, he could still hear the distant sounds of staff beginning to clear the venue. The crowd was slowly filtering out, thousands of people leaving with their lightsticks still glowing in their hands.
Minho leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Why did you nearly put Jeongin through the wall?”
Chan's jaw tightened.
“I wasn't going to hurt him.”
Minho raised an eyebrow.
Chan didn't elaborate.
He didn't need to. Minho had known him for too long to believe that everything Chan did was harmless simply because he stopped before it became something worse.
“You've been doing that more lately.”
Chan's eyes flickered toward him. He offered a hand to Lee Know.
“Whatever man, let’s just go.”
Minho accepted, using it to pull himself from the wall and pulling in the eldest to a hug-like pat on the back.
They walked towards the dressing room in a warm silence, but Lee Know stopped them before they entered the room.
“Hyung.” He grabbed Bang Chan by the wrist, stopping him in his tracks.
“Mhm”
“Don’t make them scared of you.”
For the first time since the incident, a look of guilt flashed on his face.
“I wouldn’t.”
Minho continued, “I mean the members, the directors, Stay—all of them.”
Chan raised an eyebrow. “I know.”
Minho held his gaze for another second, trying to decipher what was going through the leader’s head.
Chan only smiled, opening the door for them to walk through together.
The warmth and noise from the dressing room immediately spilled into the hallway, completely swallowing the silence that had settled between them. Someone inside shouted something about sharing, followed by Han's unmistakable laugh and Changbin complaining that he had already called dibs.
By the time they stepped into the room, everyone had already forgotten was had happened in the hallway, the usual dynamic of the eight falling right back into place.
Felix immediately turned his phone screen toward the group, presumably watching a livestream that was happening just outside the stadium.
“Aww, look!” he said, his voice brightening as he moved closer to the others. “STAY is so cute. They're still celebrating even though it's over.”
Hyunjin immediately leaned over his shoulder.
“Let me seeee.”
Felix laughed as Hyunjin practically stole the phone from his hands, holding it out so the others could see. The livestream showed the crowds slowly leaving the venue, hundreds of lightsticks still glowing against the night as fans sang pieces of songs and shouted their favorite members' names.
Changbin watched from over Hyunjin's shoulder, smiling hearing where they were going to eat tonight in honor of him.
“They're not going home anytime soon.”
“Neither would I,” Han said, dropping himself onto the couch.
“You literally just complained about having no legs.”
“That was before I had a couch.”
Seungmin rolled his eyes, but even he leaned closer to the screen.
For a few moments, they simply watched.
It was strangely comforting seeing their fans outside the stadium after the show. The members had spent the entire night surrounded by cameras and stage lights, but this felt different. There was something more personal about watching STAY celebrate when they thought none of the members were looking.
Felix smiled as the camera panned across the crowd.
Then it stopped on a small group who had stepped into view.
None of the fans seemed to bat an eye. They were unremarkable and indistinctive. They weren't wearing any merchandise. Nothing that would immediately make them stand out among the thousands of people surrounding them either.
Then one of them turned toward the camera.
“Is this seriously what you guys listen to?”
The livestream suddenly became harder to hear as the person moved closer to whoever was filming.
Hyunjin's smile faded.
“What are they doing?”
Another person laughed.
“They're horrible. It’s just noise pollution.”
The group behind them began chiming in, their voices overlapping as they talked about the concert. 'Their music was terrible. Their outfits were embarrassing. The members were overrated.'
It was stuff the boys had heard tens, if not hundreds, of times before so it didn’t bother them. Of course, being as famous as they were, it was inevitable to have haters. Music is subjective after all. But then came comments they could not ignore.
“STAY was the worst fandom.”
“You guys are pathetic.”
“And all your outfits, just everything about you is ugly.”
One of them pointed toward a girl standing nearby, laughing at the handmade picket fan she was holding.
“Did you make that yourself?”
The girl looked uncomfortable, shying away from the crowd, tugging on the sleeve of her girlfriend–signaling to leave.
The person laughed again.
“Yeah, I can tell.”
Security quickly came up to try and diffuse the small crowd that was forming, but the boys were all feeling a tug in their heart, all wanting to say something to their fans and remind them of their love. But of course, they couldn’t say they were watching them… that was against idol etiquette.
The room had gone quiet.
Hyunjin slowly lowered the phone.
“They're just trying to get attention,” Seungmin said, though he sounded less convinced than usual. "They're not even fans."
Changbin's expression had hardened.
“Then why are they bothering random people?”
No one had an answer. They were just antis who had nothing better to do obviously, but why target Stay?
Han stared at the screen.
“Who are they?”
“I don't know,” Felix said, despite being the one to know what was usually happening online.
Chan hadn't said anything.
He was still watching. His eyes remained fixed on the screen as the group continued laughing at the fans, trying to calm his protective anger so there wasn’t a repeat of earlier.
Finally, he spoke.
“Turn it off.”
Felix looked at him and nodded.
The screen went black and for a few seconds, nobody moved. Then Changbin leaned back against the couch.
“They're lucky we're inside.”
Jisung glanced at him.
“What would you do?”
Changbin smirked before flexing his biceps.
“Use these bad boys.”
Minho rolled his eyes. “No you wouldn’t. You’d lose your job over that, you know.”
Chan finally picked up his own phone, scrolling through the notifications that had accumulated during the concert. His expression was unreadable as his thumb moved across the screen.
“Don’t worry,” he started, giving his bandmates a reassuring smile. “We'll handle it.”
The words were so casual. He clicked open a blue app on his phone, sending a seemingly innocent message through Bubble.
Get home safe! Thank you Stay for supporting us! We will always support you too.
But somewhere outside the stadium, a team of personal security silently moved towards the small group of people who had spent the last several minutes insulting Stray Kids and their fans. As the crowd walked towards their cars and Ubers to go home, the motion went unnoticed.
~~~~~
The next morning, the news was playing silently on television in the corner of the hotel suite, playing quietly while the members ate breakfast, or continued sleeping in– the volume low enough that nobody had been paying much attention.
“Authorities are currently searching for several individuals who were last seen outside the stadium following last night's concert.”
A photograph appeared on the screen. It was grainy, taken from security footage.
“The group, believed to consist of four individuals, reportedly disappeared after harassing fans, sometime shortly after midnight. Their current whereabouts remain unknown, and authorities have asked anyone with information to come forward.”
Nobody spoke.
Han's eyes moved slowly around the table.
Jeongin looked toward Chan.
Hyunjin looked toward Minho.
Seungmin's expression had gone completely blank.
And Chan?
...Simply continued eating.
As if four missing people were nothing more than another story on the morning news. It obviously had nothing to do with them.
Then, almost absentmindedly, he reached for his phone.
A notification appeared on the screen.
His eyes flickered down toward it.
For the briefest moment, the corner of his mouth lifted.
Then he locked the phone again.
The television continued playing in the background.
And beneath the table, Chan's phone buzzed once more.
STAY is safe.