#file: |de:code|

every stage to perform on, was a special stage. even now, that they have been able to collect some experience on different stages, kang joon still liked the rush of adrenaline in his body, shortly before entering the stage. he liked how his whole body and his mind was only focused on what was bound to happen next and even the hard pumping of the heart in his chest wouldn't take him off it. it was an exhilarating feeling, nothing else felt the same, felt more right, made him conscious about how alive he was right now. despite all the hardships they went through every day, the busy schedule or the hard training and practices, everything vanished within seconds, as soon as he was up there.

maybe kang joon was still blinded by the fact that he indeed reached his dream, when for the longest part of his life, he was wondering what he was actually good for. maybe his feelings would change over the time, when they stopped being rookies, when they started to adapt well into the business and became big names after all. but for now, all the blood, sweat and tears they have put into their dreams had been absolutely worth, as soon as he heard the cheers, the glittering eyes at their sight and the big smiles on everyone's lips, wherever he looked.

amber-coloured orbs darted over to the female who was playing his older sister in the drama. to kang joon it still felt a little foreign to be out on an individual schedule. photoshootings were nothing foreign to him, in fact he felt more comfortable with every experience he made since his career as model. nonetheless, over the course of the last months he had gotten used to move in a group, move with the members of royal's boygroup de:code to their schedules. they arrived at the sets together, and even when they were called in individually depending on if they did group photos or single shots, kang joon still knew that the others were waiting for their turn, were waiting for everyone to finish up and return home together.

the dorm had become a new home to him, so now, that he was at the set of this drama all alone, he felt a little overwhelmed being all on his own. well, he wasn't exactly alone, having the other cast members with him kind of reassured him there. so kang joon took a deep breath and stepped in front of the camera, when he was called. patiently he had gotten the make-up done, wore the outfit that the stylist had picked out for him, and had filled his stomache with something light. he was a little nervous. a drama photo shooting was different from a fashion shoot or a teaser shoot.

@rkbyunbaek

as a big fan of the show, kang joon was more than excited to hear that one of the members got to guest on "king of the masked singers" to help with promotions. he himself was still occupied with the recordings for the drama "entertainer", so everything away from his own schedule filled him with curiousity. there was still so much to see and to experience as idols, but with a packaged time schedule there was a limit of things to do. that's why he usually tried to catch his members, whenever they returned home from one of their solo activities, to have them tell him interesting stories about their freshly made experiences.

he was hyped. after hearing about the concept of the show, kang joon felt the greed rise in him. in the white recording side, there would be nothing distracting for the audience, no fancy studio set up nor a popular mc. it was just them, the full line up of de:code and questions they had to answer correctly in order to gain time to perform their title song. they were in full preperation of a comeback, so being able to reveal their performance on a tv show that could lure in potential fans, would be a huge chance. the more time they would win, the better and kang joon wanted them to at least be able to perform up to the first hook and refrain to get listeners interested.

every member would be assigned one question or task, and in case the members would be able to get the right answer, they would receive 20 seconds more to perform their song at the end. in case of a wrong answer though, 10 seconds would be deducted and kang joon felt already distressed about that little fact, in clear intention to make his group bigger and more popular.

so far it had been either an imitation task or the task to guess how many members would do a specific thing or expression behind one's back, but when it was his turn, he was told to explain a keyword with his facial expression only. kang joon was confident in that task, as he was the type of guy who had a full palette of expressions to show. jumping on the spot, kang joon yelled out silently, clutching his own face with his hands, deliberately exaggerating the fear as he widened his eyes. when one of the other boys guessed a haunting house, he clapped in glee, happy to hear the correct answer and see the amount of time for them to perform to go up by a bit.

@rkbyunbaek

while searching for the key to the dorm, he yawned. it was rather late, but his schedule for today was finally over. his stomache was growling, he was hungry. what he was craving for, wasn’t food though, but a night of good sleep. so he headed right to his shared room, after taking off his shoes and putting them to the side. eyes half closed as he shuffled inside, before bumping his knee against the bed frame. cursing under his breath, he held his leg and made a few steps aside, just to let himself fall straight forward on the bed he believed to be his.

@rkhongjoong

smoke surrounding him, an unbearable heat crawling along his skin, as he desperately tried to get away from it. suffocating, kang joon looked around, anxiously, as he could make out the silhouette of a burning car in between the thick smoke. the sight of it made him freeze up, and even the flames that were already reaching out to him couldn’t make him move.

bathed in sweat he woke up, eyes wide open, gasping, as he asked himself where he was. when noticing the ceiling that he had grown used to over the past months, he sat up, wiping off the sweat of his forehead. his breathing was heavy and irregular, he could still feel his heart pumping fast in his chest. it’s been a while since kang joon had that kind of dream, that kind of nightmare. rubbing his face, he noticed the tears dripping from his shaking eyes. the male quickly dried his face in the crook of his arm, fighting to calm himself down. 

@rklino

kang joon was always the random kind of guy. he would often sit in the living room doing nothing and suddenly jumping up because of an idea he had. this time around he was just vibing on the couch, taking a break from going through his script, when minho entered the living room. with a smile, he waved at the other and handed him the control without a world. spacing out, he felt his bones aching from both training and recording, but he guessed it was the good kind of ache, considering that there was stuff for him to do. for a moment he just hung there still, long legs stretched out in front of him.

amber eyes glanced over to the younger male, immediately pulling a mischievous expression onto his facial features. the other was kinda shy, even though he was warm and comfortable to be with. it was fun to hang around with him and teasing him a tiny bit. he was the bubble butt after all.

@jaehyunrk

while washing the rice, he hummed a song he couldn’t get out of his head these days. it was perfect for the summer season and boosted his good mood. swaying a little to the rhythm, he imitated the dance moves, while carrying the tray of rice over to the rice cooker. as soon as he had put everything down safely, he jumped and turned on his own axis, stretching his hand away from him to point at jaehyun who had unexpectantly come into the kitchen. maybe to get himself something to drink. 

smirking at the younger male, he picked up a bottle of cooking oil and used it as substitute microphone to serenade his member with an over the top pitched high note. with a snort, he put the bottle back down and looked over to jaehyun. “hey, too bad they didn’t performed during the summer festival, hm? i really love the retro style. would be awesome if we could go with such an concept some day. what do you think?”