This was it. It was d-day. Doomsday as Qiang had been thinking. Nothing he did had helped to calm his anxieties. He was nervously bouncing his leg up and down as the makeup artist tried to do his makeup. “Donghyun, I need you to stop shaking,” she chided him and he smiled, apologizing quietly.
“I don’t why you’re so nervous. We’re going to do great!” Eric said brightly from beside him. Qiang had no idea how the youngest member didn’t even seem to be the least bit nervous. Maybe he was just good at hiding it. At least better than Qiang. “But what if I mess up?”
“What do you mean? We could literally do this in our sleep,” Haknyeon said from his other side. Qiang exhaled a large breath. “Aren’t any of you nervous?” The two boys chuckled. “Duh. We’re just better at managing it than you hyung.” Eric teased and Qiang rolled his eyes. The stylist sent him a glare and he smiled at her sheepishly. He needed to stop moving before she snapped his neck.
Before he knew it, they were all panting heavily and running off the stage. Qiang felt his legs shaking but it wasn’t from nerves anymore. He hadn’t messed up like he feared. There was no wardrobe malfunction, he didn’t forget any of his lines and stayed on beat and he hadn’t forgotten any of the choreography.
“We did it!” Eric exclaimed, jumping on the older male’s back. Qiang almost collapsed. “Yah! Get off him!” Kevin said, pulling Eric off of him and wrapping his arm around Qiang’s waist. Qiang sent him a grateful smile, leaning his weight on Kevin as they made their way back to the dressing room.
“You okay?” Jacob asked and Qiang nodded. “I swear I’m fine,” he said when Jacob’s expression clearly showed he didn’t believe him. “I’m just in disbelief. I didn’t mess up.” Jacob laughed and patted his shoulder. “None of us ever thought you would. You need to give yourself more credit, hyung. You did amazing.”
It was a blur from them all changing and getting back to the dorm. Qiang was still in disbelief that they had actually debuted. That all the years of being a trainee had finally come to end. He was now a rookie idol. He wasn’t a trainee anymore. He jumped slightly as he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.
He grinned widely at Mingyu’s name. He answered the video call and Mingyu, Jun and Seungcheol’s smiling faces greeted him. “YOU DID IT LI QIANG!” Jun shouted in Chinese and the other two shouted as well their excitement for the male. Despite it only being three of them, the call was loud.
“Thank you, thank you,” he laughed at them. “How does it feel?! To be all popular and idol-y now,” Mingyu asked and Seungcheol rolled his eyes. “Idol-y? Really?” Mingyu pushed him out of frame and Qiang chuckled. “I still can’t believe it,” he said and Jun hummed. “It’ll feel more real tomorrow, trust me.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Qiang said quietly and Mingyu cleared his throat. “We watched the debut stage! You guys all did great. Though you’re so tall you look like you hovered over them a few times,” he teased and Qiang laughed. “I guess I am pretty tall.”
Seungcheol had managed to squeeze himself back into the frame. “We have to go, but we’re really proud of you. You earned this and you did great. We can’t wait to see more.” Qiang thanked them again, waving goodbye before hanging up. He sighed, leaning his head against the window and closing his eyes. A wave of exhaustion had taken hold of him.
“That was nice of them,” Eric said, leaning against Qiang’s arm. Qiang hummed, wrapping his arm around Eric and pulling him closer to his side. “You did good, kid. I’m proud,” he said and Eric smiled. “Can I tell you something?” Qiang nodded, “always.”
“I was nervous. Like, super nervous. But everyone else was nervous and so I didn’t want to be nervous. I wanted to throw up I was so nervous.” Qiang chuckled, patting the younger’s arm. “Well, you were nervous for no reason. You did great.” Eric snuggled more into his side. “Same goes to you, hyung. I told you so.” Qiang scowled. “I hate when you say that.”
Eric laughed, “I know.” The two fell asleep, Sangyeon waking them up once they were at the dorm. Qiang laid in bed, the feeling of having finally debuted truly setting in. He couldn’t wipe the large smile off his face. He couldn’t wait to call his parents in the morning and see what they thought.
He jumped a little when he heard the bedroom door creak open. “Donghyun?” Eric whispered and he hummed, moving over and patting the bed for the younger to join him. “Can I sleep here? I think I still have some of the nerves.” Qiang chuckled and made more room for him.
“Don’t be nervous, we did it. The hardest part is over.” Eric hummed and the two fell asleep quickly, dreaming of what the future was going to hold for them.
