Work Text:
1 MONTH TO ROUND ONE
WYX
Nicholas arrives to practice 30 minutes late with a half-gone iced strawberry latte in one hand and his phone in the other. His bandmates are less than amused.
“You couldn’t have gotten us all drinks?” Harua pouts. He’s sitting on the ground with his guitar in his lap, pressing the point of his pick into his thumb. Jo’s next to him with his tuner app pulled up on his phone. Nicholas shakes his head, a half-embarrassed smile on his face.
“I can’t do a tray of drinks and a guitar on my back on the bus, Rua. It’s unwieldy,” Nicholas states, matter-of-factly. “You guys are gonna love me though, hold on.” He takes one last sip of his drink before putting it down near the door of the studio they rent.
“I’d love if we could practice, Nico,” Kei says, voice playfully stern. He’s sitting behind his kit, drum tuning key in one hand, and he looks about ready to throw it at Nicholas’s head. But, like, in a caring way.
“I’ll cover the overtime fee and buy everyone coffee after, you need to see this,” Nicholas says, walking over to the group. He opens his phone to a picture of a poster and flashes it to Jo and Harua quickly before passing it to Kei for his approval, ignoring Jo and Harua’s protests.
IN A BAND? READY FOR YOUR BIG BREAK?
WIN A CHANCE TO TOUR WITH TOMORROW X TOGETHER
BIGHIT’S BATTLE OF THE BANDS
SIGN UP FOR ROUND ONE AT
BATTLEFORBIGHIT.COM
“A battle of the bands? What year is it?” Kei says, baffled. Nicholas shrugs.
“It’s legit, though. We should do it. We should win it,” Nicholas says, a grin breaking out across his face. He watches Kei try not to smile, but he breaks immediately.
“Ah— yeah, fuck it, we should win it,” Kei laughs, tossing his hair out of his face. Nicholas looks down at the other two, excited, then blanches at the looks of confusion on their faces.
“We didn’t read it, Nico,” Jo says, exasperated.
Ah. That’ll do it.
———
They do have to practice, despite Nicholas’s excitement, so he explains it over breaks for water and while Harua replaces a snapped string on his guitar.
There’s four rounds, two of covers, one of original songs, and the final round is one of each. You have to submit a video of any song, original or otherwise, and they’ll choose ten bands to compete in the first round. Two bands are eliminated after each round, and the winner will be chosen from the final four bands. It’s simple enough, but—
“Are we even good enough to get into the first round?” Jo says, slight panic in his voice, looking up from his phone. He’s been looking through their Youtube channel for a cover good enough to submit, grumbling under his breath about his performance in each of them.
“Yes,” Kei says, gently removing Jo’s phone from his hand and turning it off. “Get out of your head. All our covers are good.”
“All is a strong word,” Nicholas loudly whispers to Harua, conspiratorially. Harua shoves his elbow into Nicholas’s ribs. Ouch.
“We should submit the Doctor Whomst cover. It’s really strong,” Harua says, opening his water bottle. “And then finally do the Festival Song cover for round one. We already have it mostly down, so we can spend more time on whatever we do for rounds two and three.” He takes a sip, then makes sure his replaced D string is in tune.
“When’d you get so smart, kid?” Kei coos, ruffling Harua’s hair. Harua scrunches his face up and bats his hand away, laughing. Jo and Harua start chattering about options for their round two cover, and Nicholas makes eye contact with Kei, knowing full well Kei’s dopey, fond expression is mirrored on his own face.
Fuck it. Let’s win it.
———
3 WEEKS TO ROUND ONE
WYX
Nicholas makes himself go to a show instead of writing all night— or, rather, Kei lightly threatens him with having to cover modern Panic! at the Disco for round 2 if he doesn’t take a break. He’s not learning High Hopes if he can help it, and his friends’s band is playing at Bottom Lounge tonight, so he can be nice and supportive while avoiding a Brendon Urie high note. It’s a win win.
When he texted Matthew and Ricky to let them know he’s coming to the show, Matthew immediately told him he’s on the guest list, don’t you dare buy a ticket. Nicholas laughs as he rereads the messages, walking from the Green Line to the venue, warm mid-May air blowing through his hair.
He’s excited. It’s been a while since he’s been able to actually get to a show that The Howling wasn’t playing, between the job that actually pays him and band stuff. He wants to drink a little, and dance a lot, and get to hang out with his friends before they go to their shitty hotel and he goes back to his messy apartment.
When Nicholas gets to the venue, he catches the last half of the first opener’s last song. It’s not very good, some band from the suburbs that probably hauled their stuff here on Metra, and he feels kind of bad for them, but not enough to cheer very much when they finish. He manages to get a drink from the bar before everyone in the back half of the room starts to crowd it, rum and coke so the bartender doesn’t kill him for ordering something too complicated.
A man walks up to an empty spot next to Nicholas, leaning against the bar, trying and failing to get the bartender’s attention. Nicholas doesn’t know how she’s not looking at him, to be honest. He’s tall, slim fit jeans accentuating the length of his legs, and an oversized flannel obscuring just how long his torso is. His brown hair hangs a bit over his wide eyes, which— are looking at Nicholas.
Nicholas smiles and waves the bartender down for him, which can either be confirmation that he’s been checking him out, or an apology for it. Whatever the guy wants.
The man looks to Nicholas, giving him a small smile. “I’ll have what you’re having,” he says. Confirmation, then. Nicholas licks his lips.
“Ah, rum and coke, then, on mine,” he tells the bartender, who barely reacts. She quickly pours the drink and puts it on the counter before moving on to the next person.
The man takes a sip of his drink and gives Nicholas a once over, so Nicholas lets himself look, too. He’s really, really attractive, but Nicholas swears he’s seen him somewhere before, like, online somewhere—
“You’re a Zerobase fan?” The guy asks, pulling Nicholas out of his thoughts.
“Yeah, kind of,” Nicholas says. “Friends with the band. Haven’t seen them since… I was busy last time they did a Chicago show, so it’s probably been like a year.”
The man’s eyes light up. “Oh! Are you in—”
“Euijoo!” Someone calls over the speaker system. Nicholas and the man turn towards the stage, seeing a man with shaggy brown hair holding a guitar and pointing in their direction. The man next to Nicholas hisses and downs half his drink, setting it down on the bar and patting Nicholas on the shoulder with a huge smile on his face.
“Gotta go, thank you for the drink,” he says, walking backwards towards the stage. “See you later!”
Confused, Nicholas watches as the man hops onto the stage and slings a bass over his shoulder, quickly plucking at it and tuning. The other people on stage tune and warm up just as quickly, like they couldn’t possibly wait another minute to start playing, like they should have started 5 minutes ago. Maybe they should have. Nicholas doesn’t get a chance to think about it.
“Good evening,” the man at the front of the stage starts, ducking down to place his water bottle next to a speaker. He straightens up. Pushes at his artfully gelled hair. “I’m Maki, we are Dropkick, this is Firework.”
Dropkick.
Oh, fuck. That’s where Nicholas knew him from.
See, Nicholas didn’t think to check who the local openers would be before he got to the venue. He barely had enough time after getting home from work to shower and change. If he checked, he would have known that Dropkick was playing. Dropkick, the only band accepted into round one of the competition that he was actually worried about. Dropkick, the band most likely to go on tour with Tomorrow x Together instead of The Howling.
Nicholas just bought Euijoo Byun from Dropkick a drink. Fuck.
———
Dropkick’s set was amazing, which is a huge problem.
Nicholas gets through the rest of the night, somehow, moving into the crowd so Euijoo couldn’t easily spot him after Dropkick’s set. He watched his friends in Zerobase and even managed to hang out with them before they had to head back to their hotel for the night. It’s a successful night out, all things considered. But Dropkick’s—
“— too fucking good,” Nicholas groans, flopping onto his bed. He drops his phone next to his head and puts it on speaker. “Kei, it’s, like, really bad. We might be screwed.”
“We’re not screwed,” Kei says, plactating. “They’re not even the only other good band that got into the first round.”
“No, they’re not, but, like—” Nicholas takes a breath. “I’m thinking about it like this. The band that wins is probably the one that meshes with TXT’s sound the most. Right? Like, they’d want a cohesive opener. And I think that’s us and them. I’m not even worried about anyone else.”
“So are you confident in us or not?”
“You don’t get it,” Nicholas whines, putting his hands over his face. He hears Kei giggle.
“No, I don’t,” Kei laughs, grin apparent even over the phone. “Stop touching your face.”
Nicholas moves his hands. “How did you kn—”
“We can start freaking out if they’re, like, way better than us at round one. But they won’t be, because we’re great, okay? Chill out. Put your energy into practicing Festival Song. And sending me the backing so I can finish mixing it and send it to the organizers. Yeah?”
Nicholas exhales, worries dispelled for now. “Yeah. I can do that. Okay. Thank you, Kei.”
“Thank you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve been sitting in the parking lot for five minutes and I’d like to not be any later. Some of us have big boy jobs.”
“I have a big— I have a job!” Nicholas sputters. Kei cackles.
“You work at a movie theater, Nico, and you’re part time.”
“I’m gonna cancel you for implying being an usher isn’t a job.”
“You’ll come down with me,” Kei sing-songs. “Goodbye. Send me that track. Don’t think about Dropkick.”
Kei hangs up before Nicholas can think of a comeback. Nicholas turns over and screams into his pillow.
It’s fine. They’ve got this.
———
ROUND ONE
BEJ
Dropkick is second to perform in the first round, which is the only time Euijoo’s been pleased to be second in anything.
After them is The Howling, who he didn’t recognize until he got to the venue— he immediately locked eyes with the cute guy from the Zerobase show while his band unloaded their stuff in the parking lot, THE HOWLING spelled out in black tape on their drummer’s bass drum. Cute Guy looked away just before Euijoo realized it was him. Fine.
It doesn’t matter if the cute guy is acting like Euijoo being there is going to bring the ceiling down. Because Dropkick is performing second, so he only has to worry about how they’ll do for another hour.
Whatever.
The first band’s song passes quickly, Boy Next Door covering Stacy’s Mom— Euijoo hopes they stop leaning into their band name soon. They’re good, but their vocalist isn’t Maki, who’s currently doing quick vocal warmups while everyone else sets up.
“Your voice is warm,” Yuma says, exasperated. “You’re literally fine.”
“If my voice cracks, it’s because you said that,” Maki says before resuming. They’re not just vocal warmups, they’re ones Maki learned when his parents were convinced he was going to grow up to be in musicals. Euijoo thinks. He’s pretty sure. They’re getting weirder these days, and he thinks they could be getting brainrot-ified, but interrogating that means learning more about what Maki does online than anyone should know.
“Your voice won’t crack,” Fuma says, patting Maki on the back paternally. “Everyone ready?” He asks the rest of the group.
Everyone nods, so Fuma nods at Euijoo, so Euijoo nods at the stage manager. The lights shift just as Maki settles into place, the same blue and yellow that everyone else gets, but Maki makes it look like it’s made for him. Euijoo bites back a smile as he starts speaking.
“Hey. We’re Dropkick. This is Hate Me (Sometimes) by Stand Atlantic.”
Yuma counts them in, and they start playing, and it’s perfect .
Euijoo thinks if this were a movie, everything would slow down, and all the people in the room would start levitating, and the moment would feel eternal. It’s not a movie, but it’s pretty damn close.
He accidentally makes eye contact with Cute Guy in the wings towards the end of the song, when it’s just Fuma on guitar gently playing under Maki’s vocals. Cute Guy looks incredibly pissed off. Euijoo barely resists the urge to furrow his brow about it.
Maki’s voice does not crack, so Yuma lives another day. He does, however, start clearing his throat while they quickly break down their equipment to make room for the next band.
“You alright?” Euijoo asks as he wraps up a cord. He passes Maki his own bottle of water.
“Strained a little during the last chorus. I’m good,” Maki reassures, seeing the pure panic on Euijoo’s face. “I’m just gonna rest my voice for a bit. It sounded okay, right?”
“It sounded incredible, Maki,” Euijoo says, ruffling Maki’s hair. “Let me know if you need anything, yeah?”
Maki nods, already confining himself to his self-imposed vocal rest.
They all quickly shuffle their things off stage right, and, to Euijoo’s dismay, Cute Guy and his band enter from stage left to start setting up.
If Euijoo rushes things a little bit to make sure he doesn’t miss any of their song, that’s between him and God.
They set up and tune quickly, like they have something to prove. Cute Guy shifts from mildly stressed and intense to still intense but incredibly charismatic so fast Euijoo practically gets whiplash.
The lights shift again, back to that same blue and yellow, and if Euijoo thought Maki made it look like it was made for him, Cute Guy makes it look like he was made for it . Cute Guy shakes his hair out before speaking into the mic.
“I’m Nicholas, we got…” Cute Guy— Nicholas— shifts himself around so his gaze hits each member of his band. “Harua on guitar, Jo on bass, and Kei on the drums back there. We’re The Howling. Thanks for having us. This is Festival Song by Jeff Rosenstock.”
And it’s not a movie, Euijoo knows that, but he really does feel everything slow down this time.
They’re maybe not perfect , but they’re really fucking good, and you can feel their passion a mile away. Nicholas’s face is stony as he sings, and it’s not a technically impressive song vocally but Euijoo can tell his voice is beautiful, and the stoniness cracks when the other guitarist— Harua— leans on his shoulder before the bridge.
There’s a bright smile on Nicholas’s face as they finish playing, and Euijoo has a funny feeling in his chest. He’s not quite sure what it is. It must be jealousy.
Imagine being able to say you discovered Dropkick.
BigHit will want to say they discovered Dropkick.
Oh, no.
———
After the last band— Euijoo somehow lives through the other seven bands, though he remembers nothing about their covers— Yuma and Taki drag him along to say hi to The Howling.
Euijoo wanted nothing to do with it, but he finds it hard to say no to… well, just about everyone in Dropkick. He’s lucky Maki is resting his voice and knows enough shame not to try to have a conversation with a stranger while doing so, otherwise he’d be 1 against 3 on trying to make friends. He doesn’t need more friends. He needs to go home and never say a word to Nicholas again.
He’s a normal person, though, despite it all, so when he’s deposited in front of Nicholas, he doesn’t do something insane.
“Hey, stranger,” Euijoo says, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “You guys were good.”
See? Not insane. Nicholas reacts strangely though, looking him up and down with a stern expression on his face, decidedly not checking him out this time. “You too.”
… And that’s it. Yuma and Taki are talking to Kei, animated and excited, and Euijoo doesn’t want to ruin their good time by asking Nicholas what his deal is, so he just pushes his tongue into his cheek and nods. “See you next round, Nicholas,” he says. He slips away, back to Fuma worrying over Maki like he’s actively dying, and tries to push Nicholas out of his mind.
———
ROUND TWO
WYX
Nicholas is going to kill Euijoo. Like, actually.
Dropkick was second in the lineup for this round, covering See Through by The Band Camino, and Nicholas will admit that they did pretty well. That’s not the issue. He can’t kill someone for performing well.
But he’ll tell the judge that Euijoo tried to sabotage their fucking set, and he’ll get off with a warning.
Euijoo left Dropkick’s table to hang out in the booth between WishTech and The Howling’s sets, which is fine— he’s allowed to have friends, even when it’s inconvenient to Nicholas. The issue is that he’s staying there. He’s distracting the sound guy.
Nicholas finds it hard to believe that his body can possess this much anger, but watching Euijoo chat it up with the sound guy while Jo’s bass is completely inaudible is bringing him to a tipping point. His bandmates have noticed, the crowd has noticed, the judges have noticed, the other bands have definitely noticed— everyone but those two, in their own little world. Nicholas thinks through his options quickly.
- Stop the song to get the sound guy’s attention (pros: solves the issue directly; cons: might not be able to start over since there’s a time limit),
- Wait for the sound guy to get back to doing his job (pros: professionalism; cons: he looks pretty wrapped up in his conversation), or
- Shoot Euijoo Byun with a gun in real life (pros: effective; cons: murder).
Luckily, Nicholas doesn’t have to resort to murder, as it seems like the stage manager is finally intervening, seemingly yelling over the headset. He watches the sound guy flinch and mess around with the board until Jo’s bass can be heard over the sound system again. Nicholas feels a tiny bit of the tension in his body leave, and he shoots Jo a relieved smile as they finish playing, the final notes of Percolator by Charly Bliss lingering in the air.
The tension quickly reenters his body when he watches Euijoo slink back to his seat. He cannot be serious.
Nicholas stews as he and his bandmates break down their equipment. It’s one thing for Euijoo to sabotage them. Fine. But he doesn’t even have the decency to pretend that he wasn’t just in the booth to fuck them over? Was the sound guy in on it, or is Euijoo such a fucking master of manipulation that the sound guy doesn’t even know it was all on purpose?
His anger takes him all the way over to Dropkick’s table, where he shoves a finger into Euijoo’s chest, interrupting a conversation he’s having with Fuma.
“You can’t beat us the old-fashioned way? You’re stooping to fucking with our sound? Gonna douse us in pig’s blood next?” Nicholas sneers, ears growing hot. He can tell the rest of Euijoo’s band is watching them, but he can’t bring himself to care. This isn’t about them. This is between him and Euijoo.
Euijoo’s mouth falls open into a little “O” that definitely isn’t cute, shut up, and his brow furrows. “What are you— what?” He stammers, blinking rapidly. Nicholas feels his face twitch.
“You didn’t think I’d notice you in the booth during our slot? You weren’t even subtle about it, man, don’t play dumb,” Nicholas says, crossing his arms. Something like recognition falls over Euijoo’s face. He swallows, his jaw clicking shut.
“It’s— Sunghoon and I— the sound guy, we used to do School of Rock together,” Euijoo explains, looking at Nicholas with wide eyes. “I haven’t seen him in a long time, and I didn’t realize he was here until right before WishTech, when I passed the booth to go to the bathroom. I went to say hi and got swept up. I’m— I’m really sorry that I distracted him, you guys did great despite the sound issues and I hope the judges know it wasn’t your fault. I’ll even tell them!”
Nicholas deflates while Euijoo rambles, finding it hard to poke holes in Euijoo’s explanation. Fuck. He wasn’t sabotaging them.
He doesn’t even seem that bad, now that Nicholas is up close and personal with him again. He’s as cute as he was when they met at the Zerobase show, even, and he’s genuinely apologetic about messing up The Howling’s cover.
Ah, man. Nicholas just yelled at a cute boy for no reason.
Nicholas nods, contorting his face into something resembling a smile. “Thanks. Uh. Don’t do that again.” He gives him a thumbs up, for some reason, and beelines back to his table without another word.
He’ll make up for that. It should be easy, since Euijoo doesn’t have it out for him the way Nicholas has had it out for Dropkick.
He’ll make up for it, and maybe they can pick up where they left off, before Euijoo had to dash onstage at the Zerobase show.
———
3 WEEKS TO ROUND THREE
BEJ
@weno_howling liked 5 of your posts.
@weno_howling has followed you!
@thehowlingCHI has followed you!
EJ 🍊
[Screenshot_0709.jpg]
???
taki ( •ө• )
Oh cool I like The Howling :)
EJ 🍊
Not cool
taki ( •ө• )
Oh ok
Fuma 🦸♂️
Why not cool?
EJ 🍊
This is the guy who yelled at me for talking to Sunghoon
yuma ₍^. .^₎⟆
so in all fairness you did distract sunghoon and fuck up their cover
EJ 🍊
Okay yes
But he didn’t react like I made a mistake
He had it in his head that I was already out to get him
maki ૮・ﻌ・ა
Wait hold on
Isn’t this the guy you were flirting with at the Zerobase show
EJ 🍊
Who told you that
maki ૮・ﻌ・ა
I heard you and Fuma talking about it sorry
but for the rest of the class: Euijoo met Nicholas before we opened for Zerobase and then he couldn’t find him after our set
and then Nicholas started mean mugging him last round
yuma ₍^. .^₎⟆
but you got along with him when you met the first time?
maki ૮・ﻌ・ა
Well yes they were flirting
EJ 🍊
Maki
maki ૮・ﻌ・ა
Sorry
EJ 🍊
Idk he like… seems to have it out for me
Super standoffish after round 1
And he got really weird after I tried to explain myself when he yelled at me
taki ( •ө• )
Weird how?
EJ 🍊
It was a really sudden switch up
He didn’t apologize for getting mad but his whole demeanor changed
And now he’s following both me and the band twitter
I don’t trust it
taki ( •ө• )
Hmm
yuma ₍^. .^₎⟆
i’m gonna hold ur hand when i say this
EJ 🍊
What
Fuma 🦸♂️
Don’t worry about it
Follow your gut Wiju
maki ૮・ﻌ・ა
idk about that
Fuma 🦸♂️
Maki
maki ૮・ﻌ・ა
lol sorry
just keep an eye on how he acts ej
EJ 🍊
I definitely will
taki ( •ө• )
Will someone tell me what Yuma meant
Fuma 🦸♂️
I’ll pay you money to take it out of the groupchat
EJ 🍊
?????
@weno_howling liked 10 of your posts.
———
2 WEEKS TO ROUND THREE
BEJ
“We’ve been The Howling, Attacca is up next, you’re all the best, don’t go anywhere.”
One thing Euijoo will give Nicholas is he’s charismatic. Magnetic.
Even as he and the rest of his band break down their setup to make room for the next group, Euijoo can’t keep his eyes off of Nicholas— Nicholas’s arms while he rolls up cables, Nicholas’s smile when one of his bandmates says something to him, Nicholas shaking his long bangs out of his eyes, Nicholas’s eyes—
Euijoo’s not even supposed to be here. He told the rest of Dropkick that he wouldn’t come— Fuma looked like he was going to accuse him of something insane like a crush when Euijoo mentioned maybe dropping by one of The Howling’s non-battle gigs, so he acted like it was a joke about breaking into their van or something and dropped it immediately after. It’s fine, it’s research, even, so Euijoo doesn’t have to justify sneaking out of his own apartment so Taki and Yuma wouldn’t ask him where he was going. It’s fine, but Euijoo should get going before anyone who thinks it’d be weird for him to be there sees him.
“Hey! Juju!”
Whoops.
Nicholas is coming towards his (what he thought was very inconspicuous) spot between the bar and the exit. He’s not moving very fast, it’s sort of a leisurely stroll, but they’ve already made eye contact and Nicholas has shouted his nickname loud enough that the rest of The Howling definitely knows he’s here, so Euijoo can’t move.
“Nicholas,” Euijoo says as Nicholas approaches, voice even. “You guys were good.”
“Thanks,” Nicholas smiles. “Just you tonight? Rest of Dropkick not up for spying?”
Ah. “What, I can’t go to a show on a Tuesday night?”
“Mm, sure.” Nicholas takes a sip from his water bottle and dabs at his forehead with a towel he pulls out of his pocket. Euijoo tries not to form any opinions about how Nicholas looks while sweaty. “You’re an Attacca fan, then?”
Euijoo looks at the band setting up on stage. He does like Attacca, actually, and he’s been trying to become friends with them for ages, but he had no plans to stick around after The Howling’s set. “Nah, I wasn’t going to stay. Work in the morning. I’m glad I caught you guys and Odd Eye Circle,” he says, shrugging. Nicholas’s smile widens.
“Maybe I should come to another Dropkick show soon. So we’re even,” Nicholas says, taking a small step towards Euijoo. There’s a heavy sort of eye contact, something about it that Euijoo can’t quite place. It’s something hungry in Nicholas’s eyes, something kind of scary. It’s rivalry, right? Maybe he wants to get Euijoo back. It has to be that, because Euijoo doesn’t know what to do if it’s something else.
“Yeah, maybe you should.”
A beat, where something is clearly supposed to happen.
“I have to head out,” Euijoo says, softly. “Goodnight, Nicholas.”
Euijoo pats Nicholas’s shoulder (not for the first time, though it’s significantly weirder now) and pushes past him towards the exit, not waiting for a response. When he gets to the door, he looks over his shoulder, back to Nicholas.
Nicholas is looking back, a smile still on his face. It’s smaller, more private, but certainly not gone.
Euijoo has no idea what to do with that.
———
ROUND THREE
WYX
The Howling is waiting in the wings, watching Dropkick. They’re on right after Dropkick, so they have to switch out as quickly as possible. This all makes sense. This is fine.
The issue here is that Nicholas cannot stop making eye contact with Euijoo.
Nicholas is no stranger to looking at Euijoo, he hasn’t exactly been secretive about… well, anything. He’s been quite open with his flirting since he decided to like Euijoo, and Euijoo’s been doing it right back, kind of, leading Nicholas in some weird intricate rituals that he hasn’t done since he was a teenager. It’s been fun, but Nicholas can feel pressure rising between them with every meeting of their eyes.
Nicholas only half-hears the song they’re playing, though he’s heard it before— Jyuugoya is probably his favorite Dropkick song, though he would have been loath to admit he has one of those during the first half of the competition. He doesn’t need to hear it when Euijoo keeps looking at him, something dark and intense in his eyes.
He does need to hear himself, though, so he forces himself to push Euijoo out of his brain for the next ten minutes, just long enough to set up, perform, and break down. This proves hard when Dropkick settles at a table that puts Euijoo directly in Nicholas’s eyeline and his gaze hasn’t softened.
That’s fine. Nicholas will deal with that later.
The lights shift, and Nicholas clears his throat. He can’t help but look directly at Euijoo. How could he look anywhere else?
“Hi, we’re The Howling. This one’s called Feel the Pulse . ”
Before Nicholas realizes, they’ve finished performing. He guesses they did well, given how none of his bandmates seem to be upset with him or with themselves. They break down their stuff quickly, and he accepts Kei’s smacks on the back as they move it offstage. He’ll ask about it later. He has something to deal with now.
The Howling sits at a table diagonally behind Dropkick, but Euijoo’s eyes are still on Nicholas. Nicholas raises his eyebrows. Euijoo’s eyes flick up to his brows, then down to Nicholas’s mouth when he cracks a smile. His eyes linger there when Nicholas pokes his tongue out. Jackpot.
Nicholas tilts his head back, looking at Euijoo down the slope of his nose, and nods towards a set of double doors that will take them to a hallway. Euijoo furrows his brow, like he’s trying to figure out what Nicholas means, but it seems to click for him when Nicholas stands and walks to the door without turning back. Jo and Harua are rapt in a conversation, but Nicholas’s exit does not go unacknowledged by Kei, whose grin will probably still be plastered on his face when Nicholas comes back.
Nicholas only waits a few seconds before Euijoo comes bursting through the doors, chest puffed up, but also managing to look up at Nicholas through his eyelashes. There’s a moment of silence where neither of them move, waiting for the other person to initiate. Nicholas feels a smirk creep across his face.
“Are we doing this, or what?”
With that, Euijoo and Nicholas walk towards each other. Euijoo keeps getting further into Nicholas’s space even after they meet, so Nicholas lets him crowd him against a wall, away from the windows in the door. Euijoo’s mouth falls open, and Nicholas pounces, grabbing a fistful of Euijoo’s shirt and pulling him in.
Their lips meet and Euijoo is frozen at first, but then he kisses back, and it’s as good as Nicholas imagined. He lets out a pleased hum and moves his free hand to the back of Euijoo’s neck to pull him closer, and then—
It feels like it’s over before it started, and Euijoo looks like someone just told him his dog died. “Why would you do that?” Euijoo says, backing away from Nicholas like his touch is burning him.
“What do you mean, ‘why would I do that?’” Nicholas asks, genuinely confused, his face scrunching up. Euijoo is too… something to respond, hurt apparent on his face.
“Don’t— I don’t—” Euijoo stammers, looking around. He dashes into a bathroom and out of Nicholas’s sight, and Nicholas knows following him can’t end well.
Nicholas runs a hand through his hair and sighs. He scrubs at his lips with his fingers before making his way back to his band’s table. Kei’s grin falls off his face as soon as Nicholas sits down. Nicholas shakes his head before Kei can ask any questions.
He wouldn’t know how to answer them, anyway.
———
10 DAYS TO FINAL ROUND
BEJ
Euijoo shows up to band practice two days later feeling dirty and confused.
He can’t believe he’s lost his grip on the Nicholas thing to this extent. How could he let Nicholas kiss him? How could he betray Dropkick like that?
Is Nicholas really awful enough to kiss him just to mess with him?
He’s too in his head, and he knows his bandmates can tell, because his hand can barely get a grip on the neck of his bass, missing the correct fret constantly. Fuma calls for a break after about fifteen minutes, and he volunteers himself and Euijoo to go to the corner store to get drinks for everybody. Euijoo follows him out of Taki’s sub-basement silently.
They only get a few buildings down the block before Fuma’s pulling them both to someone’s stoop. “Are you gonna tell me what’s up with you, or should I start asking around?”
Euijoo flinches, though Fuma’s tone isn’t unkind. They made a pact years ago, as the band’s eldest members and pseudo-managers, that they’d tell each other anything that could mess with the band immediately. Euijoo’s spaciness, he supposes, qualifies as something he should have explained before showing up.
“It’s just… will you promise not to tell the others? At least until I figure out what to do?” Euijoo asks, voice small. He notices Fuma’s brow furrowing, and interjects, “I’m not, like, dying or in danger or anything. Promise me.”
Fuma thinks for a second, then nods. “Of course. Just between us, Euijoo.”
Euijoo opens and closes his mouth a few times, like he’s not sure where to start, though it’s a simple idea. He looks down at his hands. “Nicholas kissed me. After last round, he pulled me aside and kissed me. And I let him.”
It’s silent. When he looks up at Fuma’s face, he finds a blank expression.
“Say something.”
“Is that it?” Fuma asks, evenly. “You can’t play because you kissed a boy?”
“The boy kissed me ,” Euijoo says. That’s important. “That’s important.”
“I mean, him making the first move makes sense, you don’t seem like the type—”
“ Fuma. He kissed me. Why can’t you see how that’s bad?”
“Did you not want him to? You said you ‘let him,’ did you not want it?” Fuma frowns.
“Yes— no— I don’t know,” Euijoo groans. “He probably did it to mess with me, he looked very pleased with himself after. But, like—” he gestures vaguely. “It’s bad for the band, isn’t it? Kissing our rivals? I can’t be friends with him, much less kiss him.”
Fuma stares for a second, then his face resettles, like he’s had a realization. “Did you know,” he starts, a weird tone to his voice. “That Yuma and Taki have been hanging out with Kei?”
What?
“What?” Euijoo asks, feeling like a bucket of ice just got dumped on him.
“Kei and Taki realized that Kei was in a band with Taki’s sister in high school,” Fuma explains, searching Euijoo’s face. “So they became friends really quickly. He’s been giving Yuma and Taki drum lessons for a while now.”
Fuma keeps talking as though Euijoo isn’t about to have a heart attack. “It’s pretty informal. Almost as though it’s not a big deal for our members and their members to be friends.”
“But— the,” Euijoo stammers, trying to find his footing. “I thought they were our rivals.”
“ You decided that. Really, Nicholas decided that, but I think he gave up on it, given the kissing you thing,” Fuma says, giving Euijoo’s shoulder a squeeze. “Are you mad at Taki and Yuma for hanging out with Kei?”
Euijoo thinks about it for a moment, but he really can’t find any anger about this within him. He’s still mad at himself, still mad at Nicholas, but even that’s starting to change. He shakes his head. Fuma smiles.
“We have one round left. You have time to think about what to do. But do something, okay?” Fuma says, standing. He brushes his shorts off, then extends a hand out to Euijoo. “And do some stretches before we get back. Your hands seem like a mess.”
Euijoo manages a smile as Fuma hoists him up. He has no idea what to do about Nicholas, and he expects he won’t figure it out for a while, but he does know how to play bass, despite what it looked like earlier.
They make their way to the corner store and back, and Euijoo’s notes start to sound more sure of themselves once they get back to practicing. He hopes to feel more sure of himself soon, too.
———
5 DAYS TO FINAL ROUND
???
@attacaIL: announcing some things this week that u Do Not want to miss >:)
@TXT_official: THE FINAL ROUND of Battle for BigHit is approaching! Be sure to keep voting for who you want to see touring with us this winter!
@zerobase_MO: Hey guys this is Ricky. We’re deciding once and for all if Hanbin is a hamster or a cat. Please leave your thoughts in the replies
↳ @zerobase_MO: abuse of power :/ - Taerae
↳ @zerobase_MO: Hi Tarae
@weno_howling: Very excited for final round of Battle for BigHit I think you guys will really like the original we’re doing :)
↳ @k_howling: @weno_howling So formal
↳ @weno_howling: @k_howling I forgot the band account password so I have to post here
↳ @k_howling: @weno_howling Nico… I’m texting you hold on
@thehowlingCHI: We’re very excited for the final round of Battle for BigHit! You guys will love the song we’re doing
↳ @kei_howling: @thehowlingCHI That’s better
@boynextdoorIL: Posting a fish fact every day until our label gives us money for a social media manager! Day one! Scientists figure out how old a fish is by counting growth rings on its scales or ear bones, just like rings on a tree! Also… Read more
@dropkickchicago: One like and I try to explain skibidi toilet to Fuma
↳ @dropkickchicago: Euijoo’s threatening to change the password. This may be my final tweet. Remember me
@yeonjuneez: anyone else here following battle for bighit… i’ve been splitting my votes between the howling and dropkick i’m so torn :(
↳ @beompop: @yeonjuneez i was already a fan of the howling bc nicholas is friends with matthew and ricky from zerobase but dropkick are so good it makes me a little nausey
↳ actually is this a safe space. i think something might be going on with nicholas and euijoo from dropkick
↳ @yeonjuneez: @beompop rlly?? i thought something was happening with euijoo and fuma…. i guess two things can be true
↳ @beompop: @yeonjuneez oh that’s so clearly stagegay LMAO i love stagegay don’t get me wrong but whatever’s happening with nico and euijoo is #real…. also i think someone saw them kiss after last round??? there was no evidence and the tweet sounded a little stalker-y but someone’s saying it
↳ @yeonjuneez: @beompop OH WOW. well i’m going to the final round so i will let you know if they make out sloppy after
@dropkickEJ: Do you think the sneezing when someone’s talking about you thing is real? I just sneezed like 5 times
↳ @dropkickMAKI: Pollen
———
FINAL ROUND
BEJ
The last round goes perfectly for both bands, but it doesn’t even matter.
When Yeonjun from Tomorrow X Together reads a name that isn’t Dropkick or The Howling, Euijoo feels like he can’t hear anything. He can’t hear the crowd cheering, or his bandmates good-naturedly going we did well, good for them , or Fuma asking if he’s okay.
Wyvern. It didn’t even occur to him to worry about Wyvern.
He watches Soobin hand Wyvern’s frontman, Jisung, the stupid fake tour contract, and he watches their drummer, Jeongin, slide an arm around Beomgyu’s waist, and he can’t even begin to think about the potential rigging, because suddenly Nicholas is by his side.
The non-Wyvern and TXT bands had started moving offstage, at some point, to pack their stuff up and lick their wounds, and Euijoo had barely noticed. But now Nicholas is by his side, eyebrows furrowed, pulling him away from the crowd to talk to him.
“Hey, uh,” Nicholas starts, his tongue darting out to wet his lips. “I just wanted to say that, like, I’m sorry it’s not either of us. We wanted it really bad, obviously, but you guys are really great, and we both deserved it, I think. Also, I’m really sorry about what happened after last round— why are you looking at me like that?”
“I’m gonna kiss you now,” Euijoo says.
“What—”
And then Euijoo leans in, and it’s a rough clash of Euijoo’s face against Nicholas’s, and Euijoo’s nose kind of hurts, and it’s perfect. It’s exactly what they’ve both been wanting. It’s what Euijoo’s been too scared to go after. It’s perfect.
They pull apart after a second, and Nicholas laughs, shocked. “Is that, like, a pity kiss? Or—”
“It’s an ‘I want you’ kiss. It’s a ‘sorry I ran away before’ kiss. It’s a little bit of a pity kiss, because I’m kind of glad we both lost and I feel really bad about that,” Euijoo says, rushing to get the words out. Nicholas raises his eyebrows, amused.
“You’re glad we both lost?” He asks, settling his arms on Euijoo’s shoulders.
Euijoo smiles, sheepish. “I want this rivalry to be over. If one of us won, we’d have some sort of ongoing feud that we’d never settle.”
“It’s, like, barely a rivalry, Juju,” Nicholas laughs. “Did you know Kei’s been teaching Taki and Yuma drums?”
“You’re okay with that?” Euijoo asks, shocked. Nicholas nods.
“It’s really sweet. We like you guys a lot. I like you a lot, Euijoo, if you haven’t noticed.”
“I like you a lot, too,” Euijoo says, softly, and for a moment it’s like they’re the only people in the room. Only for a moment, though.
“I’m trying to get the losers to get food together, but WishTech kind of seems offended that I keep calling us that, so they’re out. The Howling’s in, though,” Yuma says, walking up behind Euijoo. “Oh, hey, Nicholas! Your band’s getting food with us. Kei said to be in the parking lot in 5 minutes or you’re buying. Congrats on the kissing.”
Before they have a chance to defend themselves, he’s walking away, snickering to himself. Nicholas turns to Euijoo, mock-offended, and Euijoo laughs.
“Let’s get food with our terrible friends,” Euijoo says, shrugging Nicholas’s arms off his shoulders and grabbing one of his hands. Nicholas looks down at their hands, intertwines his fingers with Euijoo’s, then smiles up at him.
“They’re not so bad. We can keep them around.”
Euijoo smiles, and he knows it must be big and dopey, but he’s pretty sure it matches Nicholas’s. He squeezes Nicholas’s hand.
“Yeah, that’s good with me.”