The crowd was ecstatic in front of him - them - their screams resonating in his ear even with his ear piece on and the lightsticks illuminating the stadium like a load of little blue fireflies. He could feel the pride growing in his chest and his smile getting bigger every time he looked at the public singing and dancing to their songs. He loved making music, and practicing choreos, and doing photoshoots and basically everything that came with his job; but being on stage was by far his favorite thing. Yeonseok could spend his entire freaking life performing in front of others and he would be the happiest guy on earth. He glanced at his members, skipping cutely to Qian once he spotted his fav hyung on the other side of the stage, making Ssherries scream even louder when he hugged the singer from the back. He knew they liked that, the interactions between members, displays of affection, of friendship and he was not going to complain as he liked cuddling his friend a bit too much. Yujun’s voice could be heard in the speaker and Seok reluctantly let go of Qian, break was over and  they had to get into position for the next song. A fan favorite, they knew it, and their reaction did not disappoint when they started dancing to the music, a few eye-contact to the people in the pit, a tongue licking his lower lips and a few bodyrolls later and the audience was going even wilder and Seok loved it. Two songs later and it was time for another small break, he ran a hand through his wet hair he was drenched from sweat and the water fight they had earlier on, the adrenaline pumping through his veins was the only thing keeping him from feeling the fatigue right now, so he naturally went to Youngsun for comfort when their leader started his speech. It was near the end of the show, but they had a few more things planned for their fans. One big thing actually and Sok could feel his heart rate speed up and his stomach twist as he heard Yujun’s « Ok so we have a little surprise for you tonight. Since you’ve been supporting us for years and never failed to show us how much you love us, we felt like it was only fair we return the favor and give you a little snippet of our next album. » to Ssherries and them yelling even louder than before. He was not well, guilt starting creeping up on him as he saw a few of the members smiling at him. « Seokie wrote this one, so please be nice to him. » The leader added and Seok was about to puke, leaning into his fellow dance crew member and hiding his face in the crook of his neck to try and come to his senses.

It was bad, he was well aware it was worse than this, terrible. He knew it then, he knows it now and he probably never regretted anything more in his life than what he had done to get this song. Was he going to apologize ? Probably not. Was he going to tell the other members ? Definitely not. The managers and producers of this song had been very clear, the less people involved the better. The song came to an end and without too much of a surprise their fans loved it. The opposite would be unimaginable, the song was amazing and definitely deserved to be heard by everyone. Playing it tonight in front of SHOT’s public was probably just not the right way to get it out into the world (it was actually the very wrong way do to it). The idols closed the show with one last performance and left the stage for the night after saying their goodbyes to Syndney’s Accord Stadium, Seok’s hand firmly gripped to Qian’s on their way backstage. « I wanna sleep. - You gotta shower first Jagiya. - I don’t think I can. Not by myself. - Seok.... - Come on, be quick we have to go back to the hotel. » He spinned on his heels to face the managers, let go of Qian’s hand in the process. « Sure. » He answered with a big fake smile, grabbing his things and heading out to the showers. « Jinnie?? » He asked unsure, because the last thing he was expecting to see was an angry Woojin in the corridor of the stadium, but maybe it was just the guilt making him hallucinate the whole thing.