time off between schedules and training meant seonho was likely to get bored. despite their comeback looming around the corner, he couldn’t spend every single hour of every single day in practice ( his hyungs were very likely to tie him to a bed and make him sleep ). So there was always some time after a schedule, or after a day of practice, where he finds himself needing to kill time. school work only takes him so far--eventually he finishes it. now he’s waiting for the fall semester to start ( his last one!! ). his latest hobby was twitch streamers--and sometimes just youtube streamers.
he gets really into twitch gamers especially and even lately has found someone he really likes watching. they have a nice way of talking and seonho finds himself laying in bed with air pods in, watching a stream until he falls asleep. or until someone is telling him to sleep.
tonight was one of those nights. they’d just gotten back from a day in the studio and after a shower, seonho was laying out in bed to relax. he’d gotten the notification for the stream when he was in the shower--meaning when he joined the game was pretty far in. it wasn’t very late yet, so he was able to watch it until the streamer finished. he was really interested in what was played, and with out a moment of hesitation or even to think it through.
message from yoosh03 ; hello!! i was watching the stream tonight and wanted to know what you were playing? i missed the title ; - ; but it looked so fun!!
eric rarely gets to play video games that aren’t cheap switch games or ones that he managed to get at a hefty discount. his switch lite wasn’t even bought by himself, but a gift by a far too generous friend. his laptop isn’t built for gaming either, so his ability to play games is incredibly limited. that doesn’t mean he doesn’t love games though, in fact he really loves gaming when he gets the opportunity, but unlike a lot of guys his age he never had the chance to play console games growing up since they never had the money for them.
so, usually he watches playthroughs of games he’s interested in, trying to live vicariously through them. that is unless he’s invited over to play with someone - which is exactly what he’s gone over to see pj to do. they’re sat playing a particularly good game that eric’s wanted to play for ages, but the conversation has gone from lighthearted banter about the game, to eric’s current situation.
“i just... saw he had a picture with my dad in it in his house and was like ‘lol why do you have a picture with my dad?’ and... well yeah turns out he’s not just my dad.” eric explains. pj and jeno are friends, so it seems only right that eric explains what went down when they realised they didn’t just look strangely alike for no reason. it’s a weird thing to talk about - that mutual friend we had? yeah turns out he’s my half-brother and neither of us knew for twenty whole years of life. funny, huh?
whenever ten wasn’t available to hang out, sicheng was generally lost. while it was an option for him to hang around the apartment by himself, it wasn’t ideal. he wanted to get out and make more friends so that he wouldn’t be as reliant on his roommate, but that seemed to be easier said than done. he had a handful of people that he was fairly close to, but none of them were waiting by their phones for a call from sicheng asking if they wanted to hang out. most days, he had to just venture out into seoul and try to look for something to do or someone to talk to.
even though gaming isn’t something he’s extremely versed in, he still curiously finds his way to an arcade. once he’s inside and he’s looking around, he’s thankful that he has. he notices a familiar face and softly smiles before approaching the younger boy. “as a dancer, these games seem kind of bogus to me. my dancing is usually rather graceful but these force you to stomp in all different directions and then pretend that’s a valid way to judge someone’s ability.” he pauses, quietly laughing at his way of greeting jisung. “you any good at it?”
──── k.arma september 2020 schedule ╳ birthday fan meeting ❞
she’s a bundle of nerves, excitement, and happiness on her way to the fan meeting venue. her heart thundering beneath her ribcage as she hears the bustle of movement from the other side of the stage; a permanent smile seemingly fixed on her lips as the noises of the fifty people who she would be meeting that day heightens her energy. it’s so exhilarating. the event hasn’t even started yet, but she feeds off of their energy already.
this must truly what if feels like to know you’re doing exactly what you’re meant to.
truthfully, she doesn’t know what to expect. while she had prepared a few things to make the event more interactive, she still couldn’t possibly gauge how they will respond to it. joy can only hope that they would enjoy the things she had arranged and that it wouldn’t be subpar to their expectations. she wants more than anything for them to have fun and to really celebrate such a special occasion with her. after all, this might be the only time within the year where she can intimately gather with them like this.
when the event starts, she walks up to the stage with the happiest smile, a hand above her chest in an attempt to calm her racing heart. the cheers from their fans were loud, it didn’t even feel like there were only fifty of them there. just seeing them in front of her, their faces as clear as day makes her heart full already. this was the best birthday gift she could have ever hoped for.
“hello everyone! i’m k.arma’s kil, thank you so much for being here today.” was her introduction, the microphone clutched tightly in her hands. “how are you? did you miss me?” she asks with a teasing smile, a laugh escaping from her lips as a booming chorus of “yes!” was heard from the audience. “ah, i missed you all too. i can’t wait to meet everyone on stage again but this is really fun too, right? i’m so happy that i’m given the chance to spend my birthday with everyone. i’m very grateful that you’re here with me today.” she says with utmost sincerity, a sparkle of fondness shining within her brown eyes.
the first few minutes of the hour begins with more chatter from her end. she shares little anecdotes about how she spent the morning of her birthday; the presents she’s received from the members, the breakfast she shared with doyeon, and the subsequent excitement as she prepares for the event. it felt like talking to an old friend but even better because their animated reactions kept on making her laugh throughout.
suddenly, the staff brought out a two-tiered fondant cake with lit candles carefully adorned on top of it. “wow, it’s time to blow the candles now?” she says in surprise, walking closer towards the cake. as soon as she finished speaking, the crowd erupted into a birthday song. as they sing for her, she sways and claps along, eyes on them the entire time. as soon as they were done, she thanks them with a polite bow and moves to blow the cake but not before closing her eyes to make a wish.
i hope we always get to build happy memories.
finally, she blows the candles as the fans cheered once again. “thank you, thank you.” she says with a smile. “i will tell you guys what i wished for but i don’t want to jinx it so i’ll just keep it to myself for now.” she laughs despite their whines. afterward, she took pictures with the cake and chattered some more. at one point, she gave in to a request to dance a portion of their latest release as she danced the killing part.
for the next portion, the staff pulled out a large resume card which she hoped they can utilise for the fans to get to know her better. joy feels that there’s still so much of her that they don’t know, even though it’s already been more than a year since she debuted. the segment took a few minutes to finish. in it, she talked about her favourite nickname “joy is my english name and pretty much everyone i know call me as that!”; a special talent, “i can memorise a choreography just by watching it.”; and other smaller information such as where she was born, what languages she knows how to speak, and what are her hobbies.
the childhood section may seem like it would be more revealing but it’s honestly facets of her life which she doesn’t mind sharing. in there, she talks about her strengths and weaknesses. what she loved to do as a child where she talked about how much performing means to her even at a young age. she also mentioned her first memory of seoul, which was a childhood vacation where all she did was eat hotteok and mandu as how she felt an instant connection for the city even though it was her first time ever being there.
the last few moments of the fan meeting would be where she gets to interact with all of the attendees one-by-one for a short period of time. as they all file a line to approach her, she’s surprised at the many different faces she’s greeted by. they were all so courteous and wonderful. one of the more memorable people, a young man who introduced himself as pj, told her quite nicely how she’s even more breathtaking in real life to which she can only laugh. he looked very excited to meet her and this energy was rubbing off on her, as evidenced by her grin and the adoring look she’s giving him. before he’s asked to move, what made their interaction even more significant to her memory was the note he slid towards her. “my friend told me to give this to you, and he'd kill me if you didn't read it. 99% sure you know him!” he says, and with a look of surprise she quickly masks, she thanks him generously before waving goodbye.
another significant interaction was when she was offered a large ring. as soon as she sees it, she laughs boisterously. “oh my gosh!” was her reaction, eyes wide as she accepts the large ring. “thank you! this is so pretty. i’ll put it through my arm to keep it safe.” she gushes, smiling at the man whose name she gathered was dowhan. the big ring rests comfortably on her wrist, acting as a bracelet. she kept it on there until the entire event was over.
soon enough, it was time to say goodbye. “thank you so much again for coming to my birthday party. i hope that we’ll always get to spend such wonderful time together like this. i had the best birthday ever!” she speaks with utmost happiness. “thank you for all your support. please look forward to seeing k.arma in the future, we love you all dearly!” with that final message, she goes around the entirety of the stage waving at every corner she can reach.
she leaves the venue and arrives home with the fullest heart. it had truly been the best birthday ever and she can’t wait to always spend her special days like this—surrounded by love and appreciation.
yeojin realises the summer’s coming to an end as she exits the school building and a gust of cool wind blows past her, whipping her pigtails across her face. she barely realises, though, brushing the hair off her face almost on autopilot. her eyes flit across the groups of people wandering out of the gate in front of the school, searching for a familiar face she’d been looking forward to seeing all day. every single time she plans to meet pj she spends the hours up to seeing him thinking about nothing but seeing him.
her hands are already growing a little clammy with the mere thought of seeing him. she wonders why, after years of having this bothersome crush, she’s gotten no more used to his affects on her. she’s always dealing with the butterflies in his chest, the lump in he throat, the blush on her cheeks and the clammy palms. even with all that, she never says no to spending time with him, in fact she’d spend every hour of every day with him if she could.
it’s ridiculous really, clinging to these feelings and not simply shoving them away and trying to forget about them–there’s no way someone as handsome, interesting and smart as pj would ever like yeojin back. he’s too good for her, and the best she can expect to get is his friendship. she’s not about to jeopardise that over her silly crush.
as she walks closer to the gate she spots him, standing not too far away from the throng of people heading off to study groups, tutoring, jobs or simply going home. the sight of him makes her stomach flip and the butterflies awaken. how does he always manage to be so handsome? it’s unfair, yeojin, thinks, striding over to him with a bright grin on her face. “peej!” she calls out, only just stopping herself from running and jumping on him. she doesn’t want to start any rumours by hugging him right outside her school, even if she craves his hugs.
