Moonlight.

“see, you just have to do what i do– be not-attractive,” tae answered bluntly with a laugh. of course, he didn’t believe that himself. nor did most of his fans, he reckoned. but he got enough comments about it, and at this point, he found them funny.

“i should like, dress up in like a sumo suit and wear a mask all the time or something... because this is not the move.” He chortles, “Maybe between those things they’ll forget what i look like and just stop commenting on it.”

“No kidding… it makes me really appreciate the times that New Age just lets me do voice only live,” Yeong replied. He had a tense relationship with appearing on camera in general, but dealing with live comments on top of that? Definitely not a fan. “I’ll take comments about my voice over some corny line about my jawline being sharp enough to cut diamonds.”

“No cause those, along with ‘uwu flower boy Nico” are the worst ones like what the fuck are y’all even taking about? I appreciate our fans but like.... there’s a line that’s consistently crossed that weirds me out.”

“But how will you know the fans love you if they don’t tell you how sexy you are every 30 seconds?” Duckie teased his bandmate with a mock incredulous tone. He wasn’t going to lie and say it wasn’t wanted attention every now and again, but he agreed they tended to be a little too much. “But seriously, dude, that last group live was rough. I spent so much time just reporting weird comments.“

Nico playfully pushed his friend, shaking his head as he thought about the vlive, “I really don’t understand how the company just let those slide. Why doesn’t the app hav elike.. moderators? I’m sure it’s something they could work around and do, like contact the company and schedule it or something..”

“when spotlight groups do lives, we never see the comments. a manager or producer is there to collect good comments and get us to react to them. that way we don’t have to see any of that stuff. i’d suggest maybe asking liberty to do something similar?”

“that actually would be pretty nice... but also pretty bothersome.” He says genuinely weighing the options between the two. He really cared about authenticity and the music, “Don’t you worry about not being able to interact with all the fans? even the smaller ones? Or do you think it’s better off being monitored?”

“damn, man, those are the best comments– you’re telling me you don’t care about tons of people letting you know that you’re hot shit? like maybe i’m vain but….you’re lying if you’re telling me you hate that shit,” hyunjoo retorted. “besides, you’d get in big shit if you cut off a vlive. i don’t know anything about liberty, but i do know that they’re petty. look what they did to ahki’s lines– shutting down a live reactively would get your ass kicked.”

“They’re okay...  Like at first i liked it. Who doesn’t like being called sexy? But i thought....I don’t know i thought my music and my talent would be the most important thing I’d get recognized for, not my looks.” Nico let out  defeated sigh, shaking his head gently, “I know.. But still it’s frustrating enough to make me want to cut off a live. I just wish there was something i could do, you know?”

“it’s real bad for distich sometimes,” jin admitted. “just with… the nature of it all. there’s a lot of shipping inspired monstrosities in our comments.” and really, not all of the ship pairs were a lie, but still

“Shipping monstrosities?” He echoes,  shaking his head as his imagination comes to life, he was definitely not envious of the other. “That, i’m a little grateful for, i’ve seen some small things about Duckie and I but it’s nothing extreme...”

“i’m surprised that those comments aren’t monitored. like even kids on twitch at least have mods to delete stuff like that. and you’re a big idol– liberty really needs to get their shit together.”

“That’s what i’m saying? Like we don’t even get proper moderation and it’s not like the company would issue a statement against sexual harassment for male idols.... I wish they’d actually do something.”

“what’s it matter? if you’re sexy, people are going to comment on it,” minji answered, rolling her eyes. “if i go live and i don’t get a comment like that, it’s a wasted live.”

“Yeah but you’re more than just being sexy, right? Like i didn’t come into the industry to be told i’m sexy, i came here to make music..” Nico replies curiously, raising an eyebrow, “Isn’t making music more important?”

“i mean… that’s bad, but i’ve had a couple people say flash your tits in vlive chat though, so honestly nothing surprises me anymore,” hayi said with a sigh

“Yeah that’s really shitty, we’re more than sex objects and it sucks that they all treat us like that.. But i’m sure you guys have it worse...”

“I don’t want to say you’re lucky or anything, Nico, but like… I think I might take that over reading Ahn Jaewook is stupid at least a thousand times during a Vlive. I get that it’s a meme among Crossroads and it’s really not that serious but man,” Jaewook shook his head, weary. “It’s really such a chore to pretend that I’m fine with hearing it so much.”

"To be fair neither of them are good things, you’re not dumb and i’m definitely worth more than my collar bones..” He sighs, running his hands through his hair, “You know what really gets me is when people pretend to know exactly what i’d like when they don’t know me. Like i’m forced to either show them my collar bones or distract them and they pretend i’m some player or something... That’s the worst.”

“there’s nothing more frustrating than knowing the name of something, but having to call it something stupid,” meilin sighed dramatically, adjusting her ponytail. “like doing a back extension roll with an extra kick to take out someone’s legs, but having it be called something ridiculous like the equalizer? i think it’s going to be the death of me.”

“See that’s why i stick to my keyboard, no one can rename a sheet music and musical terms that have been around for a decade.” Nico wasn’t sure how people could manage it. “But to be fair, saying a back extension roll with an extra kick to take out someone’s legs--” he pauses to take a breath, “is a lot longer and a lot less cool sounding than just saying the equalizer.”

“how long do i need to be an idol for before i can get a full sleeve tattoo,” xifeng mused aloud. “like, i don’t even know if i want one yet. but i just want to know…”

“Something i learned very early on in life was that it’s better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.” He says confidently  thinking about the small tattoo he had hiding under his shirt, “The company can’t stop you if you already have one. I say if you want it go and get it and  then let them punish you for it later.”

Sowon was hyper aware of his rivals, for better or worse. That included Callback, mostly for the fact that one of their own members had trained with him ages ago, and he was curious how one such egomaniac could handle being shoved to the back of the stage.This was one of the vocalists, though, and so, more of an actual threat. “Practice going well?” Sowon asked casually.

“Yeah, we’re doing pretty well.” He says cautiously, eyes scanning the candy section as they talked. grabbing a pair of tiny twix. “What about you guys?” Nico was a perfectionist. He wanted to not just be an amazing keyboardist but also an amazing vocalist; and so he was more inclined to compare himself to other’s in the same genre as him.

she couldn’t help it. animals were her weakness; she loved reggie more than her members sometimes. and to have a dog right in front of her, happily waiting to be pet? she couldn’t handle it. the rest of the world dropped out of existence for about 45 seconds. xinyi glanced up at nico when he coughed, only to turn her attention back to where it’d been within seconds. “hi, boomer! oh, you’re just so precious, i’m in love with you and your teeny, tiny little leggies!” she looked over again when he crouched down, a grin spreading across her face. “and hello to you, too, right here. i’m xinyi, it’s nice to meet you.” the quiet lasted only a moment before she started laughing. “you brought a puppy. did you expect me to ignore him to stare at you?”

"No, but i figured you’d at least talk to me too.” He hums, scratching behind boomer’s ears before smiling a bit. Brown orbs scan the other’s face before looking out into the greenery of the park. “And no you can’t keep him, one more time. Duckie and I are his parents.”

contrary to what xinyi was pretty sure nico thought, she did own clothing in muted colors. she made the conscious choice to only wear obnoxiously bright outfits around him; it was fun to bother him a little here and there. ball cap secured on her head, she made her way into the park to meet him. did she know why they needed to be in a park? not really, but xinyi wasn’t the kind to argue over that. her eyes scanned the area until she noticed him waving to her. was that a dog? before she’s able to fully process, she took off running toward nico, dropping to her knees to pet the dog the second she reached him. “hi, baby! you’re so precious, where did you come from?”

As he watches the girl nearly break out into a sprint towards both him and his pup, he assumes it’s because she’s excited to see him.  Though the more he thought about it while she fluffed the small corgi’s ears the more he realized that was probably a stupid assumption. After a few moments he clears his throat, “His name is Boomer.” He starts, crouching down to pet the dog, “And also, hi. I’m right here.” Nico wasn’t the type to beg for attention, but since he and Xinyi were so close he thought that it was right that he did just the tiniest tiniest bit.