Me and Dawn (Dae) are up late at night, bored out of our minds. We finished work around 10 p.m., coming up with new choreography for a song on our album.

“Wanna vibe to Retrogade? We can dance a bit, have a little karaoke session.”

“What song?”

“Um…how about Stars? Maybe Contrast?”

“Both sound amazing, let’s do both.”

So that’s what we do. Dae hooks up his phone to the speakers in the studio, Stars by Sin and Shadow of Retrogade blasting through the room a moment later. It’s fun, how the two of us jump into the choreography, having fun as we practice the choreography. It’s fun and exciting.

We dance for the whole two songs, both of us excited.

“Y’know, I performed Retrogade songs for my audition.” I say between pants and sips of water, crashing on the Daydream Records’ dance studio couch.

“I did too! I danced to Sin’s song Love, and I sang Killing Time.”

“Killing Time is amazing. I love that song. I rapped Sundown for my audition.”

“This makes me sound like a massive fanboy, but I can’t wait to meet the Retrogade hyungs.”

“Me neither.”

“They’re so talented, I want to learn from them. Plus Atlas-ssi and Soul-ssi are amazing dancers. I could learn a lot from them.”

“I bet. Plus I know Shadow-ssi is amazing at rapping.”

“Have you ever been to one of their concerts?”

“Once. About a year before I joined Daydream. You?”

“I went before Sin-ssi and Shadow-ssi came out as a couple. About a month before they did.”

“They’re so nice to their fans.”

“They are. I remember we both joined because Retrogade is signed under Daydream too.”

“I actually was scouted by quite a few labels before I joined Daydream…” Dae admits.

“We know, you’re extremely talented. But why’d you join Daydream versus any other? Because you mentioned you were scouted by famous labels.”

“Because I met the current Heartmakers band, as well as Retrogade. I wanted to meet you all.”

“How sweet of you.”

“I’m glad I joined Daydream. Best decision of my life, Z. It’s also pretty crazy that I’m a rookie idol at 16.”

“Crazy, but overall not too surprising. There are many idols who are our age or close to it, even younger than you.”

“Fair point.”

The entirety of Retrogade’s discography blasts through the speakers. Me and Dae sing along, the two of us most definitely tired, having worked so much.

“We should probably head back to the dorm.” I mutter after a long while.

“We should, but this is fun.”

“Dae, you are almost asleep. We should go home so we should shower and head to bed, hm? It would be best, anyways, considering it’s nearly 11:45 and we have work again in the morning.”

“Kai said we had a late day, because he and Jay are in board meetings all morning.”

“We still have songs to finish and choreography to perfect. We can always teach Kai and Jay after the meetings, sleepyhead.”

Daeseul’s platinum hair is in his eyes as he relaxes on the floor of the studio, using his hoodie as a pillow.

“You’re basically asleep, Seul. C’mon, get up.”

“‘M not ‘sleep, Z…” Seul mumbles, obviously already half-asleep.

I get up, seeing his eyes droop, almost shut, and I disconnect his phone, pocketing it as well as my own. I pick up all of mine and Seul’s things in a bag, and then I pick up Seul in my arms. He is practically asleep already.

“Seulie, this is why I said we should head home a half-hour ago…” I mumble to myself, carrying the sleeping maknae to my car.

It’s a short drive to the dorm so I’m not too bothered by it. Seul sleeps the whole drive and everyone is asleep when I enter, carrying the six-foot-two maknae in my arms. I walk over to his room, lying him in bed and putting the covers over him.

“Sleep well Seulie.”