Atlanta, a seven-member boy group that debuted and is now in its fifth year, is still at the peak of its career. However, recently, the members are shifting focus; group activities are no longer as active. Even so, their number of fans is not to be underestimated.
"Killin’ It" is one of Atlanta’s standout performances. Of course, Joshua didn’t mean to say his group lacked talent — on the contrary, everyone is very skilled and has their own strengths.
Still, Atlanta’s performance was truly exceptional — so exceptional that Joshua, who had just started learning about showbiz in this world, heard about it first.
[If we’re not careful... if there’s no distinctive color, viewers will only remember Atlanta. No matter what your group does, you’ll come up short — fans will tear you apart.] Nine said quietly; he didn’t understand many things the fandom did, and small sparks were easily lit.
Joshua listened to Nine and said nothing.
At that moment, someone suddenly ruffled his hair a little; Luther’s voice rang out: "What’s up? I told you to stop overthinking — that’s why you can’t grow taller."
Joshua pulled his hand down from his head and said coldly, "Don’t make me hit you right now."
Luther wasn’t scared at all. He pinched Joshua’s cheek casually, then said, "Don’t worry about the performance. At worst, we’ll get second place!"
Joshua sneered, "I’ll kick you down to third."
Luther: "...listen, what kind of words can a human say? Bring back the Joshua from two days ago!"
Joshua: "..."
Henry had returned by then. He looked at Joshua sternly, "At least we don’t need to rewrite the song or redo the choreography."
Leonard scoffed, "If we dared change anything, we might get torn apart."
The show was even being recorded — were these the kind of things we could be saying? Joshua couldn’t help glancing at Leonard.
Leonard winked casually when he saw that. "What? Finally enchanted by my good looks, huh?"
Joshua: "..." He got goosebumps and, by instinct, moved a little closer to Luther.
"Leonard, don’t talk nonsense. You come off a bit... gay-looking, gives me the chills." Luther rubbed Joshua’s head and said to Leonard.
Joshua: "We’re recording, you know. Is it really okay for you to say that?"
"What’s there to be afraid of? As long as our words cause enough of a stir, they won’t dare air it." Luther said grandly.
The director in the recording room: "..."
Joshua was momentarily speechless, while Leonard frowned at Luther and Joshua, his tone cold: "Luther, before you call me out, maybe look at yourself first. Since when did you start getting chummy with people?"
It had to be said that Luther’s temper was no better than Leonard’s. Luther slung an arm around Joshua’s shoulders. "I’m different, of course. Joshua and I are best friends. Haven’t you seen his post?"
Of course, he had. Leonard frowned deeper but said nothing more in the end.
By then, Joshua had already escaped Luther’s arm and gone to stand beside Henry. They began discussing the concept — they wouldn’t change the choreography or the song, but at the very least, they could adjust the idea to give it a unique color.
"That time, the seniors from Atlanta went with a ’cool’ concept... maybe all we can change is the outfits," Henry said in a low voice.
"We could add something to it — like demons or something..." Joshua tapped his lip thoughtfully, then continued, "Let’s do this — we’ll be a group of vampires!"
Justin immediately cheered, "That sounds awesome, Joshua!" — even though he didn’t understand.
Joshua couldn’t help glancing at him before smiling and saying, "You’ll have to learn not to smile then — be a cold, brooding vampire."
Justin hesitated, clearly troubled. "I really can’t smile?"
Joshua wondered how someone could be as honest as Justin — he’d probably get tricked and sold off one day.
Just as he thought that, Justin said gloomily, "But whenever I see Joshua, I just can’t help but smile."
Joshua couldn’t help laughing at that. He patted Justin lightly on the arm. "Since when did you learn to say things like that, huh?"
Justin’s face flushed a little as he scratched his head. "I... I’m telling the truth."
"Alright, enough smiling. The shoot’s over — let’s go eat," Luther said, walking up and pulling Joshua away from Justin. Justin quickly followed after them.
Leonard clicked his tongue and went along too.
Harry watched the group leave, then turned to Will. "Aren’t we going with them?"
Will shot him a look. "Go for what? They’re not my juniors."
"Boss!"
At that moment, Lucen and Lucian came running over. Lucian couldn’t help but exclaim, "I can’t believe you get to be on Joshua’s team again! I wanted to team up with him, too!"
Will said nothing and led the way toward the cafeteria, with the rest quickly following behind.
Ultimately, the group settled on their concept — just as Joshua had suggested, their theme would be vampires. Of course, this was more of an added feature for recognition — things like fangs and red eyes.
"And nail polish," Joshua said softly, sitting on his bed.
He was holding a bottle of black nail polish he had bought earlier that afternoon, carefully painting each nail with intense focus. The tip of his tongue peeked out slightly as he licked his lips, his expression completely absorbed.
[That color looks great!] Nine chirped. Joshua’s fingers were long and slender, the joints well-defined. His skin was so pale that the knuckles had a faint pink hue. Usually, his nails were a light pink, but now that they were painted black, they stood out even more strikingly.
Joshua, as usual, didn’t respond to Nine.
Nine hadn’t expected someone who seemed as mild as Joshua could also be this stubborn. When Joshua said he wouldn’t talk, he really didn’t — even if Nine kicked the chair out of anger, Joshua wouldn’t care!
Nine huffed in frustration, unable to vent.
Just then, Luther suddenly poked his head over, curiosity in his eyes. "Stop licking your lips," he said.
Hearing that, Joshua instinctively pulled his tongue back. He glanced at Luther and asked, "Do you want to paint yours too?"
Instead of answering immediately, Luther asked, "You’ll paint them for me?"
Joshua didn’t think too much of it and nodded.
Luther grinned. "Then hurry up," he said, already climbing onto Joshua’s bed.
Joshua pushed his head away. "Aren’t you afraid the bed will collapse? Go to your own."
At that, Luther stepped back, narrowing his eyes with a knowing smirk. "You just don’t want me on your bed, Joshua. Don’t think I don’t know."
Joshua was halfway down the ladder, but Luther stood blocking the way, making it impossible for him to get off.
Joshua gave him a light kick. "Move, or I’ll sit on your face."
Luther chuckled. "Wouldn’t be the worst thing."
Joshua: "..."
Luther was living proof that the embarrassment will always belong to someone else if you’re shameless enough.
Joshua climbed back up onto his own bed.
"Trying to go back on your word? No way."
Luther’s voice came again as he reached out, wrapped an arm around Joshua’s waist, and easily lifted him before "throwing" him onto his bed.
Joshua landed on the soft mattress, annoyed. He sat up just in time to hear Luther say, "You should work out more, Joshua. With a waist like this, what can you even do?"
It felt like Luther squeezed a bit harder, it would snap in two.
A vein popped on Joshua’s forehead. "You wanna find out, princess?"