Archive of Our Own

5am 

Jelly’s eyes slowly blink open, the curtains softly blowing, the night sky shining through the darkness of the room, warmth surrounds him. His arms holding something soft, and cozy, looking down Jelly sees black hair. A smile spreads on his face as he takes in the smell, cedar with a hint of cinnamon. 

Bobby is laying against Jelly’s chest, their limbs intertwined as Jelly tries to pull him closer, Bobby shifts, making a soft sound under his breath. Jelly smiles as Bobby settles back, relaxing against him again. 

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

The shrill sound of the phone makes Jelly yelp, startling as his head whips to the sidetable, he throws his arm out trying to stop the alarm before it wakes Bobby up. Cursing everything as Bobby shifts against him, his cute face scrunching up. 

“Hmm?” Bobby says sleepily, Jelly frowns as he grabs the phone fully, looking at the screen seeing the alarm screen. Jelly silences it, sighing seeing the unfortunate sight of the clock reading 5:01am. 

Jelly doesn’t want to get up no matter that he knows they have to, what he would give to stay in bed with Bobby, hold him and never let go. 

“Wha time is it?” Bobby’s words breaks Jelly out of his thoughts, leaning back slightly and yawning cutely making Jelly’s heart speed up, everything that he did made Jelly want to scream and squish him. 

Jelly stares at Bobby’s face as he slowly blinks his eyes open, the clock reading 5:04am, Jelly reaches out unable to help himself, cupping Bobby’s face, the warmth of the bed alluring, calling Jelly to stay here all morning.

“It’s five o’clock, we have to get up soon,” Jelly finally answers, smiling as he feels Bobby leaning into his touch, what did Jelly do to deserve such an amazing boyfriend.

“You have to go get the boys up, the girls will be easy, I can get an extra twenty minutes of sleep,” Bobby says, a teasing tone to his voice as Jelly pouts, rubbing his thumb on Bobby’s cheek.

“No fair you get the girls who follow the rules and I have to deal with the menaces,” Jelly says, Bobby lets out a laugh, Jelly brightens at the sound, some days Jelly felt like he lived for that sound alone. 

“Because I was the manager first, I get the pretty princesses, you get the smelly boys,” Bobby says, Jelly gasps, putting his hand to his heart in mock offense. Bobby laughs, leaning up, Jelly watches him softly as Bobby leans down, pressing his lips to Jelly’s. 

Jelly can feel his heart racing, leaning into the kiss, pushing his hand from Bobby’s face to the back of his neck as they kiss languidly, the whole world falls away, leaving just the two of them existing. Too soon, Bobby leans back making Jelly whine. 

He can hear Bobby laugh softly, Jelly sits up with him, stretching, if they wanted to make it on time, he really had to wake the boys up, between Romance claiming he had to take twenty minutes for his gorgeous body to wake up, making Abby want to stay with him, Jinu and Mystery not wanting to leave Rumi’s and Zoey’s side, and dragging Baby out of his fortress of stuffed animals, Jelly had his work cut out for him.  

Parting from Bobby was hard but Jelly soon found himself walking down the hallway of the penthouse, yawning as he reached Romance’s room, he knocked on the door, expecting to hear a grunt from Abby. The silence that follows makes Jelly frown, slowly opening the door, looking around, he sees the bed empty. 

Jelly shakes his head, he really should start taking a roll call for those three, he can never tell where Mira, Romance, and Abby were sleeping. Abby’s room was also empty, Jelly feels himself growing confused, stopping by Mystery’s room.

“Sung-ki, you’re usually the responsible one already awake, can you help me find the others?” Jelly says through the door, frowning when there’s no reply, opening the door to find it empty again. 

“Become a manager, Jelly, they said, it’ll be better than being a demon they said,” Jelly grumbles under his breath, it was way too early for these shenanigans, they had to get a move on to make sure they stay on track for today. 

Jinu will definitely be in his room, Jelly thinks, becoming utterly disappointed when it’s empty, the penthouse was silent, still, too still. 

“If Youngho isn’t in his room, I swear to everything I will hunt them down and ground them from seeing the girls and Min-ho for a week,” Jelly shakes his head, standing outside Baby’s door, he begins to push it open.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Jelly sees Mystery laying on the floor, on his back, with a single blanket underneath him and a swan plushie under his head. Abby is on the couch, his long limbs spread out in a way that Jelly had no idea was possible, a narwhal plushie covering his face. Romance laying on a floor bed, consisting of so many blankets, Jelly wonders where he found all of them, he had three plushies surrounding him, a lion, a giant elephant, and a giraffe. Jinu was at the foot of the bed, lying sideways, in a fetal position hugging a purple snake plushie. 

Baby was in the center of the bed, only the tufts of his blue hair peeking out from the thick covers, almost completely with plushies, his pride and joy, Jinu the polar bear, at his side, the head of the bear on Baby’s. 

Jelly felt his heart soften seeing them sleeping all nicely, before remembering the scavenger hunt he had to go on to find them, flicking the lights on, Jelly yells out.

“Time to wake up!” He watches as all of the boys startle, Romance shooting up in his floor bed, Abby grumbling, looking around confused, Jinu blinks his eyes open before groaning, rolling to the other side, Mystery sitting up perfectly like a vampire from those movies Bobby showed him. 

“Jelly, it’s too early,” Romance whines, rubbing his eyes, Baby has his eyes open, glaring at Jelly with a harsh look. 

“No time to waste! We have to get ready for today, up and at ‘em,” Jelly says, Mystery nodding, seemingly accepting his fate, Abby stands up, Jelly sighs seeing him only in his underwear, Abby walks over to Romance on the floor, who immediately throws himself into Abby’s arms. Jinu yawns loudly, Baby kicks him at the end of the bed.

“Stop that,” Jinu says, smacking Baby’s legs under the covers, Baby only kicks harder, smirking to himself. 

“Only one Jinu can remain on the bed,” Baby snickers, Jinu groans before letting himself fall off the bed, standing running a hand through his hair.

“March,” Jelly says, pointing to the door, Mystery says nothing following him, this is why he’s his favorite, Jelly thinks to himself as the others hang back, slowly making their way out of the room. 

Okay, step one completed, now to corral them to the bus. 

7am

Finally after making all of the boys leave Baby’s room, when Jelly asked why they were all in there, he got a myriad of responses.

“Mira decided she wanted to have a sleepover with Zoey and Min-ho in his room, abandoning us,” Romance said, grumbling as Jinu dished up a simple breakfast. 

“Namhae was there,” Abby answered shrugging as if it were obvious, Jelly had heard Mira last night saying that the boys were going to distract her and she actually wanted to get some rest before today.

“The voices were loud,” Mystery whispered, Jelly took a step back, okay… he’s going to take that as he didn’t want to sleep alone without Zoey. 

“Jinu was sad because Rumi wasn’t there to sleep with him so I invited him into the den of plushies to make him feel better,” Baby said, a smirk on his face as Jinu rushed to defend himself.

“I was not sad!” Jinu frowned, Baby pointed his fork at him.

“That’s not what you were saying holding tightly onto Mr. Snakeity Snake,” Baby teased, waving his fork around, Jinu gasped trying to grab the fork from Baby who only laughed pulling it away, 

“That is not how you treat silverware,” Jinu scolded Baby. Jelly quickly intervened, feeling his phone buzz in his pocket, seeing the message waiting for him.

“Okay, the bus is here, you all have fifteen minutes, then you’re all to be downstairs ready to go, I’m going to go check with the driver to make sure everything is ready to go,” Jelly said, looking at all of the boys, only Mystery acknowledged his words. 

Jelly sighs heading out the penthouse, making his way to the bus, speaking to the bus driver for a moment, verifying their destination, a venue an hour away. Checking his phone, Jelly sees it’s 7:15am, turning around as he hears the doors open, for once the boys listened to what he was saying.

Turning around made Jelly question every life decision he had ever made.

Romance is brushing his hair, bending over and flipping it back up, apparently needing ‘more volume’, Mystery holds onto his bag politely, Baby holding Jinu the polar bear, a grin on his face, Jinu is standing there looking dazed and tired, Jelly sighs seeing him without shoes on. The worst of all, Abby is standing still only in his underwear. Deciding to handle the most pressing problem, Jelly speaks.

“Abby, where are your clothes?” Jelly asking, rubbing his forehead, Abby shakes his head slightly looking down at himself, Jelly wonders how he could look so shocked. 

“Oh, I forgot,” Abby shrugs, Romance’s grins tells Jelly that he knew that Abby did and purposely said nothing, Baby peeks around Jinu the polar bear before letting out a loud laugh having not seen. 

“I didn’t even notice,” Jinu says, he looked extremely tired, Jinu looks at Abby shocked that he’s in his underwear and not in his clothes, Jelly groans looking up to the sky.

“I noticed,” Mystery says softly, crossing his arms, Jelly can’t see his face fully but he can tell that he’s giving Abby a side eye.

“Okay, okay just Jinu, where are your shoes?” Jelly asks, Jinu looks down, tilting his head as if a confused dog.

“Oh, I didn’t see that either,” He says, Jelly groans, Mystery, Romance, and Baby all head to the bus, Baby trying to bring Jinu the polar bear, Jelly walks past him, grabbing the stuffed animal, ignoring Baby’s protests, putting it in the entrance to the penthouse, they would handle that later. 

Reaching into his giant bag, Jelly brings out shoes and clothes, pushing them into Jinu’s and Abby’s hands. 

“Get changed, we have to get to the venue on time,” Jelly says, the boys accept the items and climb onto the bus. Jelly stands there for a moment, wishing anything that was out there to let them get there in one piece.

8:30am

Arriving at the venue after the urge to rip out all of his hair, Jelly sighs seeing them arrive, he had to listen the entire time Baby yelling in the bus with the other boys telling him to be quiet which only led a vicious cycle of blaming each other, crying because Romance felt bad, dramatically yelling, “Guys we’re better than this”.

Jinu trying to distract them by pointing out what they were passing by as they drove, Mystery saying he didn’t want to hear it because he was tired, leading Jinu to get sad before Jelly had to step in, telling them all to calm down as Baby called Abby a baby because he forgot his clothes. 

They all walk into the green room, Romance running to one of the vanity’s, placing his bag down and loudly yelling that it was his and no one could touch it. 

“We’re not going to take your mirror Namhae,” Jinu sighed, setting his bag down against the wall, Romance looking at all of them suspiciously.

“That’s what I would say too if I was trying to steal the perfect spot in the room with the perfect lighting, and the perfect views, Chul guard it,” Romance says, Abby nodding seriously, moving to stand in front of the vanity, his arms crossed. 

“I’m gonna go nap,” Mystery says, heading into the corner. Baby reaches into his bag like he’s handling contraband and handing Mystery a stuffed animal that he managed to sneak past Jelly, when Jelly looked at Baby, he gave him a wide grin pretending to be innocent. 

“Behave, I’ll be right back, we have an hour and a half before our first rehearsal, then the girls will be here by 2pm, and we’ll all practice together, make sure everything is running smoothly,” Jelly says, some of the boys saying okay, others ignoring him.

Jelly doesn’t know why he’s giving them such specific updates, he could tell them that he’s heading to the moon and he would get the same reaction. 

It takes longer than he expects to get everything set up and coordinated with the venue workers, the set still needing to be put together. Jelly had felt the vein in his forehead bulge at the sight of the still being constructed stage, he had to take deep breaths to calm himself down. 

The manager on duty for the venue talks with Jelly for a long time, droning about the venue, before for some reason begins talking about his day, the food truck he’s planning on going to eat at, Jelly nods giving him a friendly smile but everything in Jelly is whirring, he can feel it. 

The sense that Bobby told him about, the one where managers could tell that their group were doing something they shouldn’t. Politely excusing himself, Jelly heads back to the green room. 

Opening the door, Jelly hears the chaos before he sees it.

“I don’t want to use that moisturizer! It bites me!” Mystery yells, Romance trying to put the cream on his face.

“Your skin is dry, you need hydration!” Romance yells back, Mystery begins barking.

“Namhae, if he doesn’t want it, he doesn’t have to put it on,” Jinu says, trying to reach out and grab the moisturizer but both Mystery barking and Romance hissing at him make him hold back. 

Baby is sitting at another chair, holding up a tube of hair bleach that Jelly has no idea where he could have found here, wiggling his eyebrows at Abby.

“I bet I can bleach my eyebrows faster than you can,” Baby swings the bleach back and forth, Abby looks deep in thought, pondering before frowning at the challenge. Baby knew that all he had to do was dare Abby to do something and he would. 

“No bleach! No biting, and stop hissing and barking,” Jelly walks into the room, grabbing the bleach out of Baby’s hands who whines, flopping into his chair, Mystery calms down, a low growl in his throat as Romance sticks his tongue out at Mystery. 

“It burns, only Zoey’s feels nice,” Mystery says grumpily, crossing his arms as he scowls at Romance who points to the moisturizer on the vanity, an exasperated look on his face.

“It’s the same moisturizer! I’m the one who helped her find the best one to use!” Romance yells, Mystery only shakes his head, insisting that it’s different, Jinu has moved to leaning on the wall, texting on his phone, a sad look on his face. 

“Maybe we can take the yogurt and use it to dye our eyebrows,” Baby whispers in Abby’s ear, Jelly whips his head around looking at Baby suspiciously. 

“Wow I didn’t know that yogurt was that powerful, wait doesn’t that mean we can’t eat it?” Abby questions, Jelly feels a tinge of pain behind his left eye. 

“No Byun-chul, yogurt does not work as bleach,” Jelly says, at least he’s pretty sure that he doesn’t, maybe he should double check, and hide the yogurt, yeah definitely hide the yogurt from the baby menace. 

Managing to get them all calmed down, Mystery and Romance settle down, Romance having convinced Mystery into taking pictures of him as if they weren’t at each other’s throats just ten minutes ago. Jelly watches as Baby props his phone up, seeing Min-ho on screen, Baby showing off his stuffed animals that he smuggled into the venue. Abby stood by Jinu, poking him and annoying him as he continued to text on his phone. 

Jelly took a deep breath, he could do this, they only had nine hours left before they were going to perform, everything was going to be fine. 

Right?

10am

Everything was not fine, making their way to the practice stage for their first run through without the girls, Jelly feels like pulling his hair out, at first, everything was fine, the stage hands had begun to hand out mics, telling the boys that they were responsible for their mics and not to lose them.

Then one loud screeching sound later, the mics all blew out, having not been charged correctly, the boys stood on the stage, staring at their mics in shock.

Just what they needed, something new to break that makes Jelly feel like his mind is being torn apart having to remember everything that needs to happen to make today happen. 

“I don’t need this mic, I can perform without it,” Romance begins, stepping forward, Jelly’s eyes widening as he waves his hands in front of him.

“No, no, no, you don’t need to do that Namhae…” Jelly begins to say.

“From ashes we rise, the fire’s in our blood , this is our comeback, written in the stars.” Romance’s voice echoes through the practice stage, Jelly grimaces, assuring the workers that everything was okay.

“Yeah Namhae!” Baby cheers, throwing his fists in the air, Mystery claps as Romance walks forward on the stage, pretending to perform the song. 

“That’s my boyfriend!” Abby yells, cheering and clapping loudly, a bright grin on his face, Jinu sighs and shakes his head.

Romance falls to his knees, Jelly shrieks for a moment, the last thing they need is someone getting hurt.

“Don’t hurt yourself!” Jinu and Jelly yell at the same time, Romance ignoring them as Jelly expected, laying on his back, pretending to play an air guitar, Baby and Abby hyping him up. When Romance finishes the song, he stands up bowing dramatically, looking up and smiling at Jelly. 

Jelly sighs, clapping slightly, giving Romance a strained smile who seems satisfied with that, heading back to the group. The mics start working again, Jelly breathes out a sigh of relief, everything is going back on track. 

Rip!

Baby starts laughing hysterically, pointing at Jinu, Romance chuckles, Mystery shakes his head, and Abby laughs loudly. Jinu shrieks, turning around, Jelly sees his pants with a giant rip. Instinctively covering his eyes, Jelly groans, it’s his job to fix it.

“It’s okay, there’s some safety pins, we’ll just pin it until you get changed,” Jelly says, shooing the boys away from Jinu, as Jinu glares at the others, Baby giggling. Jelly grabs the safety pins from the worker.

Heading up the stage, a dawning passes over him, he’s going to have to be the one to fix it, resigning himself to it, Jelly sets to work. 

Trying to ignore everything, forget everything that has ever happened, Jelly begins to pin Jinu’s pants back closed, the other boys taking a break after Jelly yelled at them.

“I didn’t mean to, I know things have been stressful, I just haven’t been focusing, Rumi’s been really busy and I can’t concentrate,” Jinu says, Jelly feels himself loosen at his tone.

“It’s okay, it hasn’t been that bad.” It has. “Really, don’t worry about Rumi, Bobby is a professional, he has everything handled, including the girls, I’m sure they’re ready to go, he always has everything taken care of.”

Jelly’s words seem to calm Jinu down, it makes him feel better, that he was able to help Jinu feel better, it makes Jelly feel like he’s doing an okay job at being their manager. After pinning the final part, Jinu heads back into the green room with the others, Jelly stays back. 

Walking down the hallway, Jelly sees the delivery worker that was sent to collect their stage outfits, at least this was going according to plan.

“Oh hi, did our delivery arrive on time?” Jelly asks, the hope that was in his chest slowly lowering as the worker looks at him confused.

“Huh? There were no deliveries today,” Everything freezes around Jelly.

“What do you mean, there were no deliveries today? Our stage outfits were supposed to arrive at 9am,” Jelly says, a forced smile that felt more like a grimace forming on his face, the worker giving him a strange look. 

“I don’t know what to tell you man, we were expecting a delivery but then we got the notification that the delivery has gone through,” The worker says, and it takes everything, everything, in Jelly to not grab the man and shake him and demand he go find the outfits.

What would Bobby do?

Taking a deep breath, Jelly closes his eyes before opening them again and smiling wide at the worker to hide the absolute storm in his mind.

“Thanks,” Jelly draws out the ‘s’ in the word before turning around and leaving, pulling his phone out, seeing it’s 11:45am.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Jelly repeats to himself over and over, willing it to be true, where were their outfits?

12pm

Walking back into the green room, feeling like a fire was lit underneath him, Jelly takes in the scene, the workers had delivered lunch for the boys to eat.

Baby is gnawing on some ribs, getting barbecue sauce all over his face, yelling when Abby tries to grab one, “That’s mine! Get your own!” 

Abby scowls, shoving some more of his chicken breast and sweet potato into his mouth as he glares at Baby, who growls back at him chewing on his ribs. 

“Savages, the lot of them,” Romance says with a huff, flipping his hair behind him as he takes a bite of his bibimbap. Mystery nods solemnly, eating another lettuce wrap with tofu and veggies, he always said he wanted a lighter meal for lunch to keep ready to dance at any moment. 

Jinu is sitting eating brown rice with stir-fried veggies and bulgogi, still checking his phone every two minutes.

Jelly sighs, grabbing a protein bar, pretending it was a delicious pasta at the new Italian restaurant that he saw online. Pulling out his phone and Googling ‘how to escape your job even though you love it, it's just driving you crazy and making you want to pull out your hair’. 

The results give him no real answers.

“Hey babe- the girls should be here soon and-” Bobby walks in, and normally, seeing the light of his life would lower Jelly’s blood pressure, but in the background…

“You know Sung-ki, this bibimbap is way better than those wraps could ever be,” Romance says, Mystery looking at him confused.

“We’re eating two different things, we like two different things,” Mystery says slowly with confusion.

“Grrrrrr…” Baby growls at Abby’s fork, slowly reaching out to his ribs.

“You’re turning into Sung-ki,” Abby scolds, Baby snaps his teeth at Abby, ignoring his words.

“I wish Rumi was here,” Jinu sighs quietly, 

Jelly’s eye twitches. Has his eye ever twitched before? He didn’t know. He didn’t want to know.  

“Okay- that’s it, I gotta go, Bobby is here, you’ll all be fine, I need to go find the outfits!” Jelly was about ready to start throwing the food if he doesn’t get out right now.

“The outfits?” Bobby asks, his voice confused, but becoming concerned at the word ‘outfit’, "What do you mean they're not here?”

“I don’t know- the delivery guy doesn't know… so I’m just gonna go to the company and see if they’re there. Okay? Okay!”

Running out of the room, Jelly waves to the boys, “Bobby is in charge, listen to him, or don’t, I don’t care anymore.” 

He had a job to do, they couldn’t perform without their outfits.

2pm 

Bobby checked his watch, 2:01pm. Mira and Zoey had already arrived twenty minutes ago, but Rumi was nowhere to be found. He stood at the doorway of the practice studio, watching the hurricane he knew he had to manage, somehow. 

He was worried to hear earlier that the outfits weren’t delivered. But Jelly said he would find them. So practice, the show, must go on.

Zoey had moved to entertain herself, phone on the floor, recording what looked like TikTok video, an upbeat song playing while she lipsynced to some bubblegum pop song about being “both bad and sweet”, dancing to the choreography with such passion Bobby hoped she saved some of that energy for the stage.  

Romance and Abby were on either side of her, Romance trying to keep up with her moves, as graceful as a slightly concussed swan. Abby had too much energy, hitting the wrong moves, too many ad-libs, and for some reason…his shirt was off?

“Why is he shirtless?” Bobby asked, mostly to himself, but Baby overheard, who was watching them.

“Tiktok logic. You know how it is,” Baby said sagely, nodding his head.

Bobby did, in fact, not know.

But he said nothing as Baby jumped into the video, sliding into the frame, striking a dramatic pose that landed halfway between Vogue and a collapsing scarecrow, “Guys I know the best ending pose!”

Zoey burst into laughter, “Youngho, yes, Byun-chul, Namhae, you guys stay there. Youngho you’re the center now!”

Baby beamed, “I was born for the center!”

Bobby blinked, as Zoey restarted the video, Abby body-rolled harder. Romance added a head tilt. Baby lip-synced like his entire career depended on it.

Bobby turned away, once again wondering where Rumi was, when he saw Mira and Mystery dozing on the floor, Mira using Mystery’s stomach like a pillow. Mystery had mumbled something about ‘ finally being protected from Romance’. Both had hoodies pulled over their faces, their limbs in a tangle like they’d been dropped there by a very gentle tornado.

Jinu was leaning against the wall, close to them, knees pulled up to his chest, head bobbing as he fought sleep. His eyes blinked open as Bobby approached.

“Hey,” Bobby said softly, crouching down. “Any idea where Rumi is?”

Jinu yawned so hard it made Bobby yawn too.

“She left last night, said something about wanting to do some demon hunter training overnight, made me sleep with Youngho.”

That made Bobby hold back in a sigh. He knew how important it was to Rumi. But why, of all nights, did she have to pull an all-nighter when she knew they had the live show today? He started rubbing at his forehead when Zoey’s gasp made him look up.

“Hey! My mic is gone!”

Here we go…

Bobby turned just in time to see Zoey tearing through her bag, frantic, “I had it. I literally used it for the TikTok we did right before Baby joined.”

Abby threw his hands up, “I didn’t touch it.”

“I went through your bag earlier, I didn't see it,” Romance says, “I just borrowed your eyeliner.”

“That’s worse,” Zoey shot back, not even looking at him, “Why can’t you steal Mira’s?”

“Mira’s got glitter in hers,” Romance replied, as if it explained everything.

“Okay, okay, I’ll look for it,” Bobby said, keeping his tone even, walking to where they kept the mics for the performance. 

Baby crouched down and peeked under some chairs, “What if it walked off?”

“Can you not say stuff like that right now?” Zoey hissed.

Baby blinked, “What? It's happened before.”

Everyone stared.

Mystery, still lying on the floor, but now awake, raised a hand. “...He’s not wrong.”

Bobby crouched by the gear crate, muttering under his breath. “One missing mic. One missing Rumi. And a show in less than four hours.”

Because of course this day wasn’t chaotic enough.

The door slammed open, making Bobby jump, but then a slight blue color caught his eye and he grabbed it.

“Hey guys! Did you know that there's a new training obstacle course at that gym a few months ago? I did like a hundred flips, and it was so cool how…”

While Rumi talked, Bobby walked over to Zoey, who was still looking in her bag.

“Here you go,” Bobby says, handing Zoey her ice blue mic, decorated with sparkling rhinestones, “I think you put it with the others when you were done with it.”

“Thanks Bobby!” Zoey cheered, giving him a hug, “What would we do without you?”

“Probably cry,” Baby supplied, making Abby laugh. 

“Or, go onto stage with glitter eyeliner, and no mics,” Romance added, “Which, thinking about it, could be our new brand now…”

“Okay, okay!” Bobby clapped his hands. “We’ve got four hours until show time. Let’s run it top to bottom, then again with transitions. Let’s go!”

4pm

The energy in the room shifted as music blared from the speaker system. The group fell into formation, feet stomping in rhythm, arms slicing the air in perfectly timed choreography. Luckily, Rumi’s voice was warmed up, and she was hitting all of the high notes of Arirang Sori. When Jelly came up with the idea for the mashup of Huntrix’s new song, and the Saja Boys’ popular song Comeback, Bobby knew it was genius. The fans were going to love it.

Bobby stood off to the side, watching each of them with the focus of a retired idol and overly stressed manager. Occasionally, he couldn’t help but mimic the moves himself, he had practically memorized it himself, after so many times watching the girls and the Saja Boys perform. 

“Namhae, angle your left shoulder more on the turn, yeah, like that.”

He turned to Baby, “You’re killing it. But remember the delay in the second verse, it’s one count, not two.”

Abby missed a beat and tripped slightly.

“I said one count, not fall over,” Bobby called, before he doubled over with laughter at his own joke, “But great recovery!”

“Sung-ki, looking good, Jinu, move to the left!”

He wondered for a second why Jinu’s pants were pinned with safety pins, but he had no time to really question it.

“Girls you’re perfect!”

Then his phone buzzed. Bobby stepped back to answer, seeing it was Jelly, before giving the group a thumbs up, “Keep up the good work!”

“Hey what’s up have you found-”

“I. CAN’T. FIND. THE. OUTFITS.” Jelly’s voice screeched into the phone like a stressed-out dolphin.

Bobby winced, “Babe, what- they should be at the building if they’re not here-”

“They were delivered,” Jelly seethed, “But, apparently, they were signed for by the wrong person, and are now on the back of an ice cream truck that drove off down Mapo.”

“...I’m sorry, back up, an ice cream truck?” Bobby couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. 

“They thought it was our promotional truck because of the colors. Someone at the warehouse thought it was part of the stage set,” Jelly replied, and Bobby could practically feel the distress coming off of boyfriend.

“What are we going to do? We perform in less than two hours!” The stress from Jelly was infecting Bobby, and now he was running through scenarios in his mind. The group would have to wear their street clothes…or maybe he could repurpose the stuff in the closet they had on the venue? 

I’m going to every truck I see,” Jelly declared, voice strained and distant as if already walking while on the phone. “Do you know how many trucks in this city sell ice cream and have pink and blue stripes?”

“No, but I’m guessing it’s more than three.”

“Fifteen so far! And they all make me buy something before I can check!”

“You’ve bought fifteen ice creams?!”

“I’ve got two drumsticks melting in my bag and a stomach full of red bean popsicles. I’m one matcha bar away from death, Bobby.”

“Jelly, baby, breathe…”

“I can’t breathe Bobby! My sinuses are clogged with ice cream!”

Bobby pulled the phone away from his ear and whispered a prayer, begging, to any higher power out there, “Okay, okay, we’ll figure this out, do we know which truck?”

“I’m tracking the route on this app,” Jelly muttered. “It was on a corner in Hongdae ten minutes ago. I’m chasing it now.”

“Chasing a truck?!”

“I’m a water demon, we’ve got great lungs…”

Bobby stood frozen, phone pressed to his ear, watching the group practice behind him while the back up dancers ran blocking for the second half of the performance. Baby caught his eye and gave a thumbs-up. Abby attempted a cartwheel and nearly took out Jinu and Mystery. Zoey was just spinning in a circle with her mic held like a wand while Rumi laughed dancing around her. Mira and Romance looked like they were minutes away from making out.

Bobby blinked. All he could hear was Jelly’s breathing as he ran, trying to catch up with the truck.

“We are going to literally perform in sweatpants if that truck doesn’t get caught,” he whispered.

“Found it!” Jelly’s scream of joy made Bobby break out of his spiraling thoughts. “Truck is on Haneul Avenue, parked. I repeat: PARKED. I’m going in.”

“Oh thank god.”

“Pray for me,” Jelly said. “If I can’t get them, avenge me. Tell the group I love them. Tell Baby to finally pay me back for the popping pearl incident.”

“What popping pearl incident-”

“Doesn’t matter, he knows- oh crap they want me to buy something- I can’t eat any more ice cream!”

“Okay, okay. Deep breaths, Jelly. Just, buy one more, maybe something safe like mango, and then sweet-talk your way in.”

“Already tried. They think I’m a crazy Saja Boy fan.”

“Well, to be fair,” Bobby said, “You do have the energy of someone who would threaten security for merch.”

“I have! For you!”

The line went quiet except for the sound of Jelly rustling another crumpled paper cone and muttering something about never eating ice cream again. Then the line went dead.

Bobby exhaled, pinched the bridge of his nose, and turned back to the group., “Okay guys, Jelly is super close to getting the outfits. Just keep practicing like you’ll have clothes on for this stage.” 

Zoey blinked, “Do we not?”

Abby raised his hand, “We’re performing naked?”

“Absolutely not,” Mira said quickly, hand lightly smacking Abby’s arm.

“You know, that might be a fun concept later…” Romance muses to himself, Jinu giving him a side eye.

Bobby took a deep breath, “Guys- focus. We will have clothes for this performance. Jelly will be here with our stage outfits, let’s keep practicing…”

The group moved on, but Bobby’s own words did nothing to comfort him.

He watched Baby run through the rap bridge choreography flawlessly, because of course he would. Jinu was off by a beat but Rumi refocused him with their duet section. Zoey kept looking down at her mic like it might explode. Romance was mouthing lyrics to himself with way too much intensity, and Mira and Mystery, ever the perfectionists, adjusted Abby’s and Zoey’s stances mid-dance like dance captains possessed.

Everything looked…fine. Almost great. And Bobby still felt like he might throw up. He stared at the clock. Less than an hour. His phone buzzed again.

Jelly : I gave them a signed photocard of Rumi and a coupon to our fan café. I’m going in.

Bobby blinked. He wasn’t even going to ask where Jelly got a signed Rumi photocard. Or why they had fan café coupons ready for bartering.

Another message followed seconds later.

Jelly : THEY’RE HERE. ALL EIGHT GARMENT BAGS. SECURED. I’m on my way.

Bobby let out a low, deep sigh of relief. He turned back to the group, raising both arms with a flourish, “We have clothes!”

Cheers erupted from at least three people. Rumi high-fived Zoey, who missed entirely and accidentally smacked Baby’s shoulder.

“Yay we won’t be naked…” Abby said to himself quietly, Bobby could tell Mystery was giving him another side eye.

Bobby ran a hand through his hair, “Okay, let’s get into hair and makeup, it's crunch time!”

More cheers, making Bobby feel lighter. Maybe this would all work out.

6pm

This was it. After all of the ups and down of the day, Bobby could finally relax. The hallway buzzed with tension and hair spray. Final outfit checks. Mic tests. Romance was panicking over a broken shoelace. Mira fixed Zoey’s earrings while Baby adjusted his in-ear. Abby was bouncing on the balls of his feet, too hyped to stand still. Rumi was taking deep breaths, while Jinu fixed Mystery’s collar. 

Bobby was never so happy in his life to see those outfits. Each one shimmered with a color of the rainbow, specially designed for each member, modernized hanboks. 

Mira was in a crimson red, elegant and commanding with a fire motif. Jinu wearing a sunset orange with gold shoulder accents giving him the presence of his leader position. Rumi glowed in a yellow gold dress with white accents, mirroring Jinu’s. Abby’s green ensemble was bright and wild, alive with motion, the sleeves lighting up with emerald lights. Baby was dressed in a deep midnight blue, the kind of color that looked black until it hit the light, revealing a hidden galaxy of sequins tucked into the fabric. Zoey sparkled in light blue with feather decals, catching the air as she spun. Mystery’s dark purple outfit was all sharp lines. Romance wore soft pink, with metallic accessories that looked like they were dipped in rose quartz. 

Bobby stood just off to the side, arms crossed, heart full. Watching them. His group. His family. He was so proud of them. Behind him, Jelly arrived holding a clipboard, two phones, and a water bottle tucked under one arm, hair slightly frazzled but face glowing with relief.

“You’re smiling,” Jelly said, catching his gaze.

“Of course I’m smiling,” Bobby said. “They look incredible. And I didn’t have to wrestle an ice cream man to make it happen.”

Jelly shudders, “If I ever see an ice cream truck again, it’ll be too soon.”

Bobby laughed softly, one of his arms coming up around Jelly’s shoulders. 

Bobby gave a small laugh. “Hey,” he said, lowering his voice, “When this is all over, want to get dinner?”

Jelly paused. Then smiled, “Absolutely.”

Just then, the call came:

“Places! You’re up!”

Bobby turned to his team, gave a nod, and the doors to the main stage opened, flooded with light, cheers, and the rising pulse of their mashup track.

Huntrix and the Saja Boys stepped forward. In every color of the rainbow, united in rhythm. 

The lights dimmed. A low hum filled the arena, deep and thunderous like a storm rolling across distant mountains. Then, the bass dropped and the Saja Boys took the stage. 

Jinu leading the formation, Comeback playing loudly. The song was powerful, built on sweeping instrumentals and explosive rhythms. The screens behind them showed glinting tiger eyes, gold dust, shattered mirrors and cityscapes.

The crowd screamed as the boys moved in perfect sync, Abby’s flips, Mystery’s fluid footwork, Baby’s rapping, Romance blew a kiss mid-verse that sent the fans into overdrive. 

“This is our comeback!” Jinu sang, voice like thunder, and pyrotechnics blasted upward in sync.

The track ended with a synchronized drop, Abby hitting the floor with a dramatic spin and Mystery ended the sequence, standing tall in front, breathing hard.

Then, gong striked, echoing through the venue. Silence for half a beat. A ripple of traditional Korean drums. The stage split, the boys fading into the sides. From the other back, emerged Huntrix, Zoey in the middle leading them, each member walking in slow, powerful steps like warriors emerging from the mist.

Their track began with a reworked sample of Arirang Sori, vocals layered with modern trap beats and traditional haegeum strings. The crowd lost it.

Rumi’s strong voice cut through, sharp, clear, shimmering, “This is our Sori, our cry, our voice, our fight.”

Their choreography was bold, infused with modern angles and fans opening with a snap, choreography that mimicked fan dancing and sword formations. Rumi’s golden fans trailed through the air like spells. Mira’s powerful center verse had the cameras zoomed in as fire burst from either side. Zoey took over, the transition rap, making the crowd roar louder.

The song turned, flipped, and it became a perfect combination of both Comeback and Arirang Sori. More fog lifted into the air, the colors of the rainbow. Back-to-back, Huntrix and Saja Boys faced opposite directions, forming a wheel of color and strength. Then they turned, stepping in line like a single unit.

They danced together flawlessly. Each pairing moved in tandem, fan flourishes meeting hard-hitting hip-hop moves, echoing each other's rhythms. 

Mira’s red silhouette crossed with Romance and Abby, pink and green catching the light like flowers caught in flame. Abby's green shimmered with kinetic energy, while Romance’s movements bloomed around them like petals in motion, bold and magnetic.

Zoey and Mystery moved like wind and water, light blue and deep purple tracing spirals around one another, their timing effortless. Jinu’s calm orange presence grounded Rumi’s golden glimmer as they moved like old souls reborn. 

Baby’s dark blue silhouette swept forward like a midnight ocean tide, circling the center as others pivoted around him. His movements were precise, measured.

And above it all, the rhythm surged. The lights spun gold, as the group sang the final chorus, special lyrics just for the mashup:

“No more fear. No more silence. We are lightning. We are thunder. We are light.”

They clapped, stepped, twisted, then joined into one final formation, all eight idols standing in a semi-circle, the lights turned brighter, each one a spotlight and a color of the rainbow. Thunder cracked through the speakers, the group raised their arms, fans extended, silhouettes glowing in red, orange, gold, green, blue, violet, and pink.

One final beat. One final breath.

Then, blackout.

The crowd’s approval was like a roar, a wave crashing over the stage and reverberating in Bobby’s chest. Cheers, screams, and lightsticks swaying like stars in every color, it was thunderous. Alive.

8pm

The Italian restaurant Jelly picked was dim and warm, glowing with candlelight. It smelled like basil and fresh bread, and the soft clinking of cutlery filled the air like background music.

After sitting down, Bobby gave the biggest sigh. Today was a job well done. Now he and Jelly could finally relax. He could hardly believe they made it through. Bobby leaned back in his chair, arms loose at his sides, his whole body buzzing, not with nerves now, but that adrenaline-downshift kind of exhaustion.

Across from him, Jelly was halfway through his bowl of pasta, still chewing like he was in survival mode. A faint smear of sauce sat just beneath his lip. Bobby smiled.

“You’re chewing like the food’s about to run away," Bobby said, voice low and teasing.

Jelly pointed his fork at him, “You don’t get to judge me. I could not get the Saja Boys to focus for longer than ten minutes today. And, I chased down an ice cream truck today.”

Bobby laughed, warm and real. “Fair. Honestly, that deserves a raise. You saved the day”

They fell into a comfortable silence for a moment. Outside, a sign buzzed faintly, casting Jelly’s face in soft pinks and reds. Bobby reached for his water, turning the glass between his fingers.

“I think we actually pulled it off,” he said after a beat. “Despite, literally everything going wrong.”

Jelly gave a tired smile, “Yeah. I still don’t know how. Between the van chaos, Jinu’s pants problem, the cursed mics, and the great popsicle pilgrimage…”

“And yet, there we were. We got those rainbow idols on stage, and even had them thinking like we had it all together all day,” Bobby mused, eyebrows raised.

“You did have it together,” Jelly said, more serious now. “You kept everyone calm, got them all to practice. Add you helped me calm down, checked on me.”

“Well you always check on me, on others, you deserve the same.”

That got Jelly quiet for a moment. He twirled some pasta around his fork and set it down again without eating.

“I don’t say it enough,” Jelly said. “But I wouldn’t survive days like this without you.”

“You’re not supposed to ‘survive’ your job, you know,” Bobby chuckled. “At least not every day.”

“I know. I just…” Jelly met his gaze, expression softer now. “I just think I should always have it together. You do. You make it look easy.”

Bobby’s smile faltered, just a little, “I don’t, though,” he said, voice gentler now. “I mess up all the time. I just, know how to hide it better.”

Jelly looked at him, blinking, surprised by the honesty.

Bobby shrugged, picking at the edge of the tablecloth. “Back when I was an idol full-time, I used to wake up every day already stressed. About my vocals, about messing up choreo, about saying the wrong thing in interviews. And now? I still panic; about you, about the group, about doing enough.”

He looked up, meeting Jelly’s eyes.

“But I learned, over the years, I can’t let it stop me from showing up.”

Jelly sat back in his chair, as if those words knocked the wind out of him.

“But you still do it. You hold everything together.”

“And you don’t?” Bobby asked, tilting his head. “You tracked down stolen outfits on an ice cream truck. You organize all five of the Saja Boys lives, make sure they’re fed, organized, safe. You’re the first person everyone calls when something breaks. That’s not ‘not having it together,’ Jelly. That’s being a superhero with better hair than most.”

Jelly’s eyes dropped to his lap, shoulders loosening just slightly. “It just never feels like enough.”

“Maybe that’s because you’re always looking ahead,” Bobby said softly. “But from where I’m standing? It’s more than enough.”

A long pause. The restaurant buzzed quietly around them, soft music humming beneath the hush of voices.

Jelly finally looked up again, and his expression had shifted, tired, but a little lighter. A little more open.

“Thank you,” he said, barely above a whisper.

Bobby smiled again. “Anytime. Now should we order dessert? I think we deserve something nice after the day we had…”

“As long as its not ice cream,” Jelly says and Bobby snorts before laughing.

Bobby snorted so hard he almost knocked over his water glass. “Okay, fair. No ice cream. We’ve both been traumatized.”

Jelly chuckled too, leaning back in his seat for the first time all night, “Seriously, I think I bought, like, seven cones today. I can still smell waffle sugar on my jacket.”

“You’re gonna have a permanent vanilla aura,” Bobby teased. “The stylists will think it’s a new perfume.”

Jelly gave him a look. “I swear, if I see another pastel truck tomorrow, I might snap.”

Bobby raised his hands in surrender. “Got it. No trucks, no sprinkles. Only civilized desserts.”

He flagged down the server, and a few minutes later, they were sharing a tiny plate of tiramisu. 

​​Bobby nudged the dessert toward Jelly,  “You first. Manager’s tax.”

Jelly smiled quietly, a little crooked, "You're a manager too. But only if you take the last bite.”

“Deal.”

They ate in companionable silence, the clatter and hum of the restaurant around them like distant waves. Bobby watched as the tension eased from Jelly’s face more and more with each bite, the kind of peace that only came after a chaotic, soul-sapping day.

When Jelly finally glanced up again, eyes softer now, Bobby felt it in his chest, that quiet, steady thing they always shared. He couldn’t imagine his life without Jelly now. Who knew that a sweet water demon would become someone who understood him so deeply, someone who saw past the stage lights and idol lifestyle, past the manager role and the chaos, to just… him. And wanted to stay anyway.

“I couldn’t do this without you either,” Bobby said, his voice soft.

Jelly didn’t reply right away, just reached across the table and gently laced their fingers together. His hand was cool, like always, but the gesture sent warmth all the way up Bobby’s arm.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Jelly said softly. “Not now. Not ever.”

Bobby smiled, thumb brushing across the back of Jelly’s hand, “Same for me.”

Bobby leaned back in his seat, eyes still soft as they lingered on Jelly’s face, hand caressing Jelly’s. Then he perked up, grabbing his phone from the table.

“Okay, come here,” he said, scooting his chair closer.

Jelly blinked, “What are you doing?”

“Capturing a moment of peace. For evidence,” Bobby grinned. “So no one thinks we died in the ice cream truck wars.”

Jelly laughed, then leaned in. Their heads bumped slightly, and Bobby held up the phone, tilting it just right to get the soft restaurant lighting, their half-finished dessert in the foreground.

“Okay, smile, but, like, post-chaos smile,” Bobby said.

Jelly raised an eyebrow. “What does that even mean?”

“Like, relieved but also slightly traumatized.”

Jelly rolled his eyes, but the corners of his mouth lifted into a soft, crooked smile. Bobby snapped the photo. Bobby opened the shared Huntrix/Saja Boy group chat, sending the picture to them. Texts started rolling in almost immediately: 

Zoey: AHHHH SO CUTEEEEEE!!!

Romance: Somehow prettier than my skincare ads

Rumi: Glad you guys are having a nice time!

Mystery: *thumbs up emoji*

Baby: Bring some home for me or I’m telling the press you made me eat celery last week 

Abby: Wait…how much did Jelly spend on ice cream today?

Mira: *gif of a credit card catching fire*

Jinu: guys stop teasing them

Romance: We tease because we love. Now bring me a cannoli or else.

Zoey: ACTUALLY THOUGH I WANT A CANNOLI TOO

Baby: Cannoli rights. Add it to my order

Rumi: you’re all unhinged. i love you.

Bobby and Jelly looked at each other, laughing quietly as the messages continued rolling in like a tidal wave of emoji-filled chaos.

“Still think we’re just getting started?” Jelly asked with a grin.

Bobby nodded, thumb brushing his cheek before grabbing a napkin for him, “With this group? Definitely.”

The next day…

The next morning, Bobby woke up to over a hundred missed notifications. Mentions. Comments. DMs. Tags. Retweets. Reels.

He blinked at his phone, still half-asleep, then groaned when he saw the culprit:

Zoey had posted the selfie to her Instagram story with the caption: “our favorite dads  #sajahuntrix #cutestcouple #postcomebackcuties”

Baby, of course, reposted it with: “i have 0 regrets. also where’s my tiramisu”

He groaned louder and flopped onto the bed, burying his face in his pillow, “What the…”

Jelly shuffled into the room holding two cups of coffee. “Morning. You’re famous again.”

Bobby lifted his head. “We were already famous.”

“I mean relationship-famous,” Jelly replied, handing him a mug. “Did you know there’s already fanart?”

Bobby choked on his sip, “It’s been eight hours!”

Jelly held up his own phone. “Someone animated you tucking my hair behind my ear during dinner. I’m…weirdly flattered?”

A ping interrupted them.

Romance: the internet loves this and the internet is never wrong, *sent with a gif of two hearts dramatically exploding*

Zoey: YOU GUYS ARE SO CUTE I CAN’T TAKE IT, post more selfies pls I need them for serotonin

Baby: still no tiramisu. love you tho 

Abby: #Belly supremacy
you guys better hold hands at the encore stage

Jinu: ...Should we add a Q&A section to the next fanmeet?

Rumi: too late i already made stickers

Bobby sighed deeply into his coffee. “This is our life now.”

Jelly leaned over and kissed his temple, “You okay with that?”

Bobby gave a small, sleepy grin, “Yeah. As long as it’s with you.”