2017, DAY TWO
Saturday, August 19, 2017 9:27 PM
Taehyun wakes up — surprisingly — to a knock on his front door.
He stirs, then realizes he's only hearing it through his left ear. No wonder it's so loud. His right ear is still pressed against Soobin's shoulder, and as he sits up, he notices just how full it feels. Hopefully it will dissipate by the time the concert starts tonight, but even in this condition, he could still play buckled in. He shakes the cobwebs from his head and looks around.
They made it back to the RV in one piece last night after the tribute show, and had basically collapsed into bed. River's set had lasted three hours, including the encore. Taehyun is still wearing the shorts and shirt he wore to the set. He feels the sweat and the grossness set in, and he makes a mental note to take a shower after he figures out who's knocking.
He gets up from bed — and slams against the wall.
Taehyun grabs the handrail before he can hit the floor. He's not hurt — only stunned. But it means that vertigo has taken control of his head. He can't walk unassisted right now, and he finds it greatly annoying. So he grabs Steve from where it is folded up against the wall, and he shakes it once and it springs out into a full walking cane.
Taehyun looks back at Soobin; in traditional Soobin fashion, the man has slept through all of this and will continue to. So Taehyun uses a combination of Steve and the handrails to walk out of the bedroom and to the front door. He grabs the rail near the door, then uses Steve to unlatch the front door and push it open.
Polaris Rider is standing outside.
"Oh, hey!" Taehyun says as Polaris lets herself in. He waves the cane. "Not having a good morning." In fact, now is a horrible time to be standing in front of one of his mentors; not only is he a drop fall risk, he's wearing last night's clothes and is swimming in the stink of them.
"You still up for a sound check?" Polaris asks, shutting the door behind herself.
Taehyun inwardly groans. The D4Fes crew does their sound checks early in the morning to avoid festival crowds. The first show at Sperry isn't until 5 PM, when Peaky P-Key plays, but if anybody hears sound coming from Sperry at, say, noon, they will come running, thinking they're missing a good set. And neither Polaris nor Taehyun want to take crowds away from the smaller shows playing those timeslots. Therefore, their sound checks are always done early in the morning...and Taehyun is not prepared.
"I might be in a minute. My ear is fine, but my vertigo is not." Taehyun notices how underdressed he is compared to Polaris; even in a white tank top and itty bitty cut off shorts, she still manages to look like a superstar. "Oh, and I need a shower and a change of clothes, I wore these last night. Can you grab me a water from the fridge?"
"I'll do you one better. Soobin here?"
"He's still asleep."
"Figured. I would just take him to the sound check, but I'm pretty sure he'd fall asleep halfway through." Polaris grabs the water from the fridge and hands it to Taehyun, then sticks her head into his bedroom. Soobin sleeps the whole time as she grabs a fresh pair of shorts from the drawer and a black t-shirt from the hanging closet. She shoves them through the curtain. "These work?"
"Yeah." In another world, this would be weird, but everybody is friends here. Polaris has been on tour for months with Taehyun and Soobin, and has helped with Taehyun's Meniere's on occasion. She knows exactly what is in all of his drawers, and she's not ashamed of it.
Taehyun showers and changes at the speed of light, then grabs Steve in one hand and Polaris' hand in the other. She helps him out of the RV and into the nearby golf cart, putting her arm around him to stabilize him as they take off. It's a short drive to Sperry, and as Taehyun drinks his water, he can feel the cobwebs start to clear. He'll probably need to be buckled into his seat for the sound check, but at least he's awake.
When Taehyun gets to Sperry, the green room tent is already set up next to the stage, and he recognizes Saki, Photon Maiden's DJ, and Saori, Merm4id's DJ, waiting there. The staff already have Taehyun's laptop; they have everybody's gear in a row, ready to sound check with each one so there are no issues on stage tonight. Taehyun takes a seat in the green room, continuing to nurse his water, as Polaris goes to talk with Airi and Mana about logistics. The sound guys then pink noise the stage, during which everybody has to be silent and there is no talking permitted in the green room. There are no festival patrons around, no shows this early in the morning, only the sound guys and the loud buzzing that drives Taehyun crazy every time they do it.
Once the pink noise is clear and the modifications have been made, each DJ gets up on stage. When it's Taehyun's turn, Polaris taps him on the shoulder. "Do you just want me to do your test for you?"
"Uh...sure?"
"You can sit in the crowd and make sure it sounds okay."
Taehyun isn't thinking straight, so he agrees. "Yeah, sure, fine."
The golf cart picks Taehyun up and drives him out to the middle of Sperry, parking in the middle so he doesn't have to climb off of it. Mana goes with Taehyun to ensure he doesn't fall off. Polaris, meanwhile, takes the stage, plugging Taehyun's computer in and booting it up.
Taehyun knows that many of the D4FES acts use the same software and the same boards. Only Saori has drastically different boards, and the ones for King Solomon, Photon Maiden, and Polaris Rider are the same. The only difference is the computers they are using; Polaris' laptop is state of the art, whereas Saki's is simple but effective. Saki and Polaris use the same software, but Taehyun's program is different.
Never mind that; Polaris seems to navigate it with ease, pulling up one of Taehyun's songs and starting it without fanfare. She changes the levels, and then she uses the program to shift to a completely different song with a completely different tempo. It doesn't matter what board Polaris is using or what program; she is clearly one of the greats if she can mix the tempo and mood of Clarity with an old Justin Bieber song.
It's so natural that Taehyun wonders if she's done this before.
"She's really good at this, isn't she?" he asks Mana.
Mana nods. "One of the greats."
Saori takes the stage next, and the golf cart drives Taehyun back to the green room. Polaris comes off the stage with his laptop. "Did that sound okay to you?"
"It did. At least, as much as I can hear it." Taehyun takes the laptop from Polaris. "What made you so good at just picking up programs like that?"
"Oh, I used to use that GUI, before I went pro, when I was first starting out. Like, a long time ago." Ahh. That makes sense. "I think you're all set for your spot tonight. Let's hope Soobin is awake by then."
Taehyun returns his laptop to the tech guys, then hangs out with Saki while Saori does her testing. Polaris watches from afar, grabbing an iced tea from the green room's supply table. The D4FES is going swimmingly, and being at NeoNara is only heightening the experience for her.
And as long as Taehyun never figures her out, she can continue to help him behind the scenes.
It's a miracle the press completely forgot about it, though it came at her expense. But she's an adult, and she's much better now, and she has every intention of leaving her past firmly in the past. What sub-genre should she try next? Could she get away with trying a moombahton song? How can she continue to inspire the next generation without being tired out? By being timeless, and working her ass off, and also by working her ass off to ensure the next generation is heard.
It's reasons like these that she intends to continue with D4FES, even long after this particular tour is done.
Noon hits, and the shows begin for the day on the smaller stages. Pretty soon, Saturday at NeoNara is full of people and the energy is back in the air. Last night's vigil isn't totally forgotten, but there is a spring in peoples' steps again. Instead of going back to the RV, Taehyun follows Airi and Mana to the food tent, where he gets a salad and snacks on it until Soobin texts him.
You slept way through, Taehyun texts back. Shame on you. Polaris had to do my sound check for me.
I'm sorry, baby, Soobin texts back. How can I make it up to you?
Hmm. How about we do a great set tonight?
Works for me.
Soobin shows up at the food tent shortly after that. Taehyun's parents are busy, but they will be at the show later tonight, so for now it's just him and Soobin (plus any number of people helping with the D4FES). "You should have alerted me the second you got up this morning," Soobin says, taking a seat next to Taehyun instead of across from him.
"And we all know that you would have just slept through it," Taehyun insists, eating a huge piece of lettuce.
"I'm serious." Soobin pats Taehyun on the head. It's an affectionate gesture, but one that still drives Taehyun crazy. "It's not like our entire crew is here. You've got friends, yeah, but if you wander off and something happens, it's not like Yeonjun or Beomgyu are here to call the ambulance for you."
"Airi and Mana would still help," Taehyun says, though he knows Soobin is just being that worried boyfriend. And he has every right to be. "Someday, I'll be mobile on my own again. Just you watch."
Soobin glares at Taehyun. "And you know that's probably not gonna be what happens. It's only going to get worse."
Taehyun stays quiet at that, eating his salad in complete silence in protest. He knows Soobin is right. He knows that, no matter what they do for his disease, it will get worse and worse until it doesn't anymore, and that could be years — decades, even. He knows he's in a race against time, trying to put out enough music that he can live off of the royalties for eons. It's not like Soobin can provide for him; the other hard truth Taehyun refuses to accept is that Soobin has to head back to Korea for the military still.
He would rather just ignore all of this.
It's going to catch up with him after this show, after D4FES is done. And he's going to be miserable.
"Annyeong."
Both Soobin and Taehyun turn. Choi Yeonjun is standing there, wearing a tie-dyed D4FES t-shirt and a baseball cap. "Yo."
"I thought you were —!" Soobin stands up, immediately, giving Yeonjun a hug. "When did you?"
"You thought I was gonna miss this. Fuck you bitches." Yeonjun makes a face, then realizes Taehyun isn't getting up, so he squats so he's on Taehyun's level. "You okay?"
"He's had a rough morning," Soobin explains as Yeonjun sits near Taehyun and gives him a quick hug.
"What are you doing here?" Taehyun is also shocked, but knows he shouldn't be quickly standing up from any tables just yet.
"I was telling Soobin — I'm not missing your show." Yeonjun gets up and sits on the other side of their table, across from Taehyun. "Do you really think I would be so attached to Kai that I would ignore your big show at Sperry tomorrow? But then also, you've got the D4FES tonight, and that's also important."
"I can't believe you ditched Kai," Taehyun says, out of disbelief.
"He didn't," another voice says behind them, and Taehyun turns — much too quick — and just picks up that Kai is standing there before his head ends up in Soobin's shoulder. Soobin catches him, but then there is noise and everybody is loud and when he comes to, Beomgyu is sitting on his right, with Kai and Shelly across the table.
"Woah, wait, Waeng is here?"
"Again, we weren't going to miss this," Kai says from across the table. "You've been working toward this goal forever."
"But I — I thought you guys had a show somewhere?" Taehyun puts his head in his hands. "This is too much."
"So we were originally planning to be in the studio this whole time," Beomgyu explains. "We've got a new place we're headed with our manager, and he wanted us in Los Angeles for that time."
"And I was going to be there as well," Yeonjun chimes in. "Beomgyu's got some really good tracks so far, but we've written like a hundred songs and we need to pick ten."
"I know what that's like," Taehyun vocalizes out loud. He is reminded of his EP...and its short length instead of having a full length album.
"So we went in the studio," Shelly says. "And then we just...sat there for a whole day. We recorded some stuff for this one track that we're pretty sure is gonna be our biggest hit — something about a balance game, that's all you get — but..."
"We realized that we were all thinking about your show instead," Kai says. "So we all decided to come out here!"
"To be honest, though..." Yeonjun claps his hands, then leans his head on those hands. "I really was gonna ditch Kai. I was gonna come out here solo, come see you guys, maybe bring some more surprises and shit. But then the band was like, hey, if you're leaving, can we come with you? So we all came out to see you."
Taehyun finds himself blushing. Now this is starting to really feel like NeoNara. If it all has to end — if he will lose his hearing, if Soobin leaves him for the military — then this should be how it ends. One last crazy show, with everybody possible in attendance — including Waeng and Yeonjun.
"Well, now that you're here," he says, "let's do something only we can do. Let's pregame."