2015: Saturday, Part Two

                                    

                                          
2015, DAY TWO
Saturday, August 15, 2015 11:28 AM
                          
Taehyun does not sleep.
                          
He lays in his parents' bed back at the hotel for hours, staring at the ceiling, but he does not sleep. His mother has medication on hand, and he takes some for the migraine, and it gets marginally better. But the ringing does not stop, and Taehyun does not sleep.
                          
When Soobin arrives at the hotel, Taehyun's mother lets him stay with Taehyun, even cuddling in bed. And Taehyun leans on Soobin, Kai's stuffed animal nearby, and the lights are down low and everything is quiet and the ringing is still there. They stay in bed, safe and sound, until they cannot stay any longer and must greet the day. 
                          
Taehyun showers, and takes as much time as he wants, sitting in the hot water until it turns cold. After he gets dressed, he puts a pair of his dad's sunglasses on -- "everything is still super bright," he says -- and holds Soobin's hand the entire way back from the hotel. It's a walk from the hotel to NeoNara's campgrounds, but it's not a long walk at all...on a normal day, under normal circumstances. Taehyun's parents come with him as the four of them walk to NeoNara's front gates, have their passes and wristbands checked, then go to the food tent. Yeonjun is waiting for Soobin at the tent, and all five enter together no problem this time.
                          
"No grease, but caffeine is okay," Yeonjun says as he tosses Taehyun a cold bottle of orange juice. "And you have to drink that first."
                          
"Ugh." Taehyun picks a place to sit and plops down, shaking the entire table. He suddenly grabs hold of the table to steady himself; his headache has kicked up again thanks to the walk outside. 
                          
"Are you okay?" Soobin sits across from Taehyun while Taehyun's parents investigate the buffet.
                          
"Yeah. Dizzy." Taehyun puts his head in his hands. "I hate this."
                          
"If either of you say this is because of your nookie, I will change the locks on our apartment." Yeonjun sits next to Soobin. "At least you two are both up and awake. Taehyunnie, if you're not feeling good, we need a plan for your set."
                          
"A plan?"
                          
"Yeah. You obviously can't do everything by yourself." Soobin kisses Taehyun on the head. "No offense."
                          
Taehyun winces. "None taken. What's the plan?"
                          
Yeonjun glances at Soobin. "You want us to come up with the plan?"
                          
"I guess. I want to...focus on playing my set."
                          
"You have everything loaded on your computer, right?"
                          
"Yeah."
                          
Yeonjun pulls up the schedule on his phone. "Simon and Milo are before you at 3, and hopefully their set is pretty quick. Which means you'll have plenty of time to set up before 5. We'll just need the manpower for it. You're using Waeng's speaker system, which means Beomgyu and Shelly and Kai can help lift things and get that assembled with the NeoNara crew. You can probably sit on stage with us and let us know where to plug things in, as well as getting your computer booted and your programs going. Then, we'll stay on stage for your sound check, and we can even stay close by during the set if you want us to."
                          
"I want Soobin in the crowd." Taehyun looks up at Soobin. "Is that still okay?"
                          
Soobin pulls Taehyun in for a side hug as Yeonjun gets up to take a phone call. "If you want me in the crowd, that's what we'll do. Just like the day we met, huh?"
                          
"Yeah."
                          
"But if it's okay, I think Yeonjun can stand nearby. That way if there's a problem, he can come help you, and I can stay in the crowd where you can see me. It's...really important that you can stand on stage and see me, right?"