❛ can’t sleep? ❜ -Min

whenever music was on her mind after a session and she wasn't ready to go home yet, she sat out back of infinite hq trying not to smoke a cigarette. she'd been doing good so far. the voice was abrupt but soft enough to where she didn't jump. instead, she shifted her head to find min. a friend. was that what she needed? dae leaned back onto her hands in attempt to welcome him. "that, and also- music stuff. the beats-" she began to joke, "they haunt me in my sleep if i'm not careful. i thought you left..."

❛ who’s going to stop us, huh? ❜

dae chuckled at her current partner in crime, soaking in the thrill they were about to get. adrenaline-seeking adventures didn't come often these days, but when they did she was happy ren found them as fullfilling as she did. tonight, dae wanted to acrade hop. buy a bunch of coins, play a bunch of games and get the highscore just so she could made funny names for display. but, she didn't wanna get caught- both of them sporting goofily tied hoodies, pulled to show nothing but their round faces hidden by black shades. it seemed busy though, and a few times they almost drew attention. "maybe eden, once he finds out this is his hoodie and i already spilled ice cream on it." dae laughed to herself, "other than that- no one." her brow lifted, sure of herself.

❛ are you sure this is a good idea? ❜

what exactly do good ideas mean? what do they entale? if they meant jinnie didn't get a lesson in standing up for herself, then she didn't give two shits about them. maybe having jinnie practice on a friend was a bit wild, but having her do it on a stranger would've been wilder. jinnie didn't have the gall for that kind of stuff. dae did. everyone's little angel? not even a little. dae looked the shorter in her eyes, wanting to pull that hesitation out of her. "i've had worse attitudes shot my way, trust." dae pulled back again, getting ready to pretend to be a rude crew member about to bump into her. "just- don't tell kai I'm teaching you how to catch an attitude. i give him enough as it is."

❛ have you come to laugh at me? ❜ - from haneul

he knew his pseudo-sister well. him calling her out before anything only made a stage for her mischievous grin. to dae, it felt he was giving her permission to react- as if she needed it anyway. han knew better, that's why he looked at her the way he did. the sound started slow, it seemed like common courtesy to give him a moment. that grin shifted into a hard-pressed line trying to unbend- but soon that caved into a smile and eventually a silent laugh that joined the air between them as she covered her mouth. "now, you can't expect me to stay straight-faced when you damn near just did a 360 out of my gamer chair." the drummer fluffed the messiness of her black wolf cut, even then thinking about dying it blonde. "what, poppy play time scarier than you thought? you said you wanted to try."

dae allowed a grin to creep onto her features, a part of her pointed out to herself that this dude seemed too soft. it might've been a strange assumption, but something about her experienced social skills could feel the idol was apprehensive or hesitant. she might've been to, if she was the type to get anxious. "thank you, i can be funny sometimes." that was sarcasm but hopefully, it was read lightly. sometimes her energy could be pointed, rather than warm. "ah no, don't bother- me and kai can share. the flowers will probably end up in a vase where we'll both enjoy them, and he'll probably hang it up- put it somewhere important." dae's gaze took turns paying attention to the leaving guest, but also carrying to bags to the front porch. soon, she'd make her strong manly man boyfriend do the rest. he probably was going to be agitated she'd done this much without letting him know. she'd walked back toward him to speak again, "-i also didn't help, so i'm sure i don't deserve it." dae gave him another smile, as if it was meant to end the sentence before she headed to grab another set of bags from the car. these, less heavy than the last set. "no worries, i'm usually in the backyard with the cats or working on stuff in the office upstairs so that checks." dae nodded, walking by until she stopped again. this was her way of multitasking. "come by whenever- music is music. i'm not as brooding as i look, i swear. although your reputation does land in a little bit of a grey area with me now."

dae teased. they were once decent friends, but honestly, she's been distant. not on purpose, but for her health- and life changes. it might've looked like she hated the boy, but dae didn't have it in her to carry any more of that. "but i'm sure you've had enough people up your ass so, i figured i could be nice." dae placed the bags on her doorstep and gestured that he could sit on the steps with her if he wanted to chat. she didn't mind. "how have you been? where's your head at been these days?"

Yoon didn't care what the numbers said, they were good it seemed. But he was just happy to have this experience. So he was attempting to personally thank those that had helped him up until now. Flowers, a signed copies of his albums, a hoodie, and few other things. It was a just few minutes of polite exchanges, Yoon thanking Kai for working with him. The idol had been curious to see Dae, he wasn't sure of their official status, he wasn't going to be nosy, but she didn't seem to be home and Yoon was an ex. Yoon didn't want to cause any issues, so he didn't drag the conversation on further, remarked about maybe having lunch at work sometime before leaving. Slipping out into the hall, the idol made it a few steps before spotting the person he had just thought about minutes before. "Awww..." A smile slid onto his lips. A small chuckle a shake of his head. "No, but that was pretty clever." Yoon remarks, his hands moving to his pockets. "I was just dropping off a thank you. Flowers, signed albums... I should have brought one for you too." He says turning to not be in her way. He wasn't sure how she felt about him, from his interactions with the other band mates he assumed she also hated him. "Didn't realise you weren't home, otherwise I would have waited until you were home."

"you're right, i don't have to. it's a blessing, truly." another fork full meets her lips and she's off to chewing yet another bite of her maknae's yummy cooking. eventually, she'll give her some leftovers in return, malachi and her were planning to make chicken alfredo friday night. she'll bring some tupperwear packed with some on saturday. she'd almost shoveled another bite into her mouth, then danbi had to go be disgusting. of course she knew it wasn't true, but a part of her was tilted by the idea of not regarding her joke. so, she'd opted to cover the bowl back up, pretending to have been full. "see? you're growing up. finding efficient ways to put food on the table. i'm impressed." dae opened the fridge and placed the food away, turning to ren- almost forgetting to close the damn thing again. "this is my favorite wig, truthfully." she'd thrown that in under her breath before she'd walked over to the living space, standing with an aimless sense to mess everyone. it kinda felt good to be around her first chosen family. "has anyone beat eden's high score in that practice mode of tennis yet?" that question came right before she glared playfully at danbi. ren chimed in and her mouth wanted to drop, but her nose and eyes wrinkled instead. "correction, man." dae pointed, before sinking into a loveseat across from them. "and y'all are fucked for saying it like that." a chuckle left her, but only cause she wanted to say something lewd in response to why she moved in. she'll save that for another time. "don't tell me tidal's princess and visual are both jealous?"

dae's foot began to bounce out of habit, picking at the threads coming loose from her shredded sweater. ren's earnest question warned a nod from her thinking on where to start her answer. "uhhh, i'd say good. great if i didn't have to force-feed myself beans every few days to increase my red blood cell count but, that's what the doctor says i guess." dae laid back into the seat more with a sigh. "i have been meaning to stop by earlier this month but, music and a shit social battery has been getting to the best off me." there was a beat of her nodded before she turned the question around, "and yall? besides wii sport nights without me and being haters. anything new?" @dxnbii

.☾

rolling his eyes, ren discarded the towel in the bathroom before he joined them in the living room. “you’re the reason that gossip blog won’t shut up about me wearing wigs.” he griped and he knew he shouldn’t be pouting about something that isn’t worth it, it was all baseless rumors from bored people. however, it still got under his skin at times. in his own form of a payback from the dreaded wig comment, he then decided to ignore danbi. “there was some drinking going on. wii sports got a lot more fun.” he told dae with a grin, stealing the pillow for his own comfort as he plopped down on the other couch and curled up in the corner.

having dae here felt like old times, he felt content as he looked over at the other couch which sat his members. ren couldn't help the smile that stayed on his face as they conversed and bantered.

“which you would know if you were here and not with some boy.” he added on, carrying on the teasing with a fake sniffle. and said boy was one of his best friends so he thought it pretty funny at least. “how’s it going with you though? haven’t seen you around here in a while.” he asked the leader, fingers toying with a loose thread on the pillow. ➳ @dxefillz

AN ARTICLE ABOUT NAHM DAE HAS BEEN RELEASED !

// Transcription of the article below. // mentions of @soulfm @yooneundal @ofnari

On July 5th, 2023 fans of Tidal and all who attended the Infinite Tour Sydney stop witnessed Nahm Dae, also known as DAY, almost completed a perfect set with her band members. Before the incident, they started the set with their starting title song ‘Gravity’, a luna favorite, and chose a select few to play from the rest of that album as well as the album they released earlier that year, ‘Dual’. 

more below the cut.

Watching back the beginning of their set, there isn't any solid video proof of Dae showing any obvious signs of sickness, or strain. However, from timed videos weaving together the timeline of her decline towards the middle chunk of their stage time, you could see Dae’s expression beginning to sour. Most fans assumed Dae was feeling the rhythm, and others assumed she’d been easily leaning into her girl crush disposition.

 It wasn’t until they’d made it to the first chorus of their finale song did fans really start to notice she’d been having a serious nose bleed, and that she’d opted to keep playing. Before they’d made it to the last chorus, Nahm Dae had started to collapse at her drumset as the crew rushed on stage to retrieve her. Tidal did an amazing job keeping the energy positive on their goodbyes finishing the set. 

For around 6 months, Dae had been absent on social media after revealing that she’d been unaware she’d been severely anemic and wasn’t paying much attention to her health. She didn’t go into depth about her condition, but she ensured that she’d be alright and an incident like this one would never happen again. Earlier this month, a week before her birthday, she returned to social media with an Instagram post and a few Instagram story updates explaining that she’d been doing much better and hopes to prove her stability by planning a solo debut soon under Infinite in a month or so.

Dae went live earlier this week saying, 'i am excited to shift the industry with some of my song choices.' Fans say that she gave them a very telling grin that had them begging for hints, but she kept tight-lipped and encouraged them to keep an eye out for any more updates.

this is dae, and kai. @thatsohkai

nahm dae has started posting again, come check them out!

↳ 'looking for the birthday boy, last seen w/ hello kitty bubble dispenser. if found pls call infinite stat. we lost him a week ago.'@soulfm

first, there was a click, and second, came a smirk from the leader. there it was. that cute, morning voice so freshly groggy and agitated from being summoned out of her slumber. for some reason, dae would usually joke around and call her a gremlin- but danbi was much too dainty for to be true. however, with dae, nicknames stick. today though, since she'd come in unannounced- she'll let it slide once the bass guitarist made it down the steps. noodle beat her though, but not exactly down the steps themselves, but the little tube tunnels danbi had insisted they install for their band baby. dae thought it was a little extra, but it was actually a little cute watching him shuffle around from room to room. dae watched noodle run past her feet silently scoffing in amusement at his eagerness first thing in the morning. cute. she scooped another forkful of danbi's food into her mouth, even as the owner came sauntering down the steps.

there was also a low hum of streaming water coming from upstairs, someone must have been showering.

dae stayed quiet, seeing the messy bed hair peeking out from behind the fridge door that she so habitually left open. the drummer wasn't even phased by the scream, she'd heard it once before and chuckled at its tone under her breath double times over. this time though, it was towards ren and she was ready to let him take the fall. until the younger finally spotted her, and dae dropped the fork against the bowl and held up a peace sign. "-wait, what the hell you mean you should've known?" dae narrowed her eyes picking the fork up again. "it coulda been ren.." then, came firstly accused almost seconds after. dae watched the older come in showered, and weirdly very awake. she was proud, but a little shocked that it seemed like he'd been up for a solid 45 minutes already. she's gotta do better next time. "call me evil, cause i'm desperately hoping she did." dae smirked, "morning, princess. from what i've heard, it was you, no?" she didn't care of the joke landed or not, closing the fridge didn't seem all that important. it never did. @dxnbii

dae watched him settle into the kitchen a bit, noticing the twinge in his expression but only slighty. she looked over at danbi first, "you didn't make this did you?" her voice was neutral, a hint of playfulness but no intention to bag on her if she had, or hadn't. it was delicious. waiting, she looked over at ren. "you all drink last night?" she assumed he had a headache.

☾.

early tidal schedules as well as wanting to get his morning cleansing in before everyone did had really shaped ren’s mornings. he used to be one of the hardest members to wake up, sleeping in on their days off but now, he was up and ready like the sun was. his grandmother would be proud, having gave her a hard time when she had to wake him up for school.

but if the shower wasn’t enough to wake him up, it sure was danbi’s yelling. the guitarist frowned deeply and walked out of his room in a cozy pair of sweats and a sweatshirt, still toweling off his wet hair. “bi, what have i told you about yelling? we still have neighbors you know.” he scolded as he made his way towards the source, which ended up leading him to the kitchen.

“let’s hope you didn’t wake up eden too, you know how gets.” he continued before he realized the bassist wasn’t the only one there, blinking in slight surprise at dae. “oh hi. . don’t tell me you’re still leaving our fridge open.” he grumbled, only partly lighthearted as he felt a twinge of annoyance prick at him. ➳ @dxefillz

220928 Kookmin University Festival © 2moonth (do not edit)

❛ are you wearing my shirt? ❜ - from silver

was she? dae stopped in her tracks looking down at her top. her inclination was to say no, but once she'd seen the top in question layered under a sweater vest and a worn-down brown leather jacket... some memories of borrowing the piece came to her. oh, fuck. yeah. the drummer hid a grin to herself and slowly look up. "yes, and?" dae gave eunhae a sheepishly jesting look. "i mean... you never asked for it back, I assumed you were giving it to me, ya know?" a laugh almost slipped out of her, watching for her reaction.

❛ how does it feel to be in love? ❜

that question felt so invasive, but she knew it was just a simple inquiry. what the hell was she supposed to say though? something sappy like, 'on top of the world' or 'like a trillion won'? dae squinted for a moment, tapping her foot on the ground thinking- or rather freezing up before his eyes. "uh..." dae tucked her hands in her pockets, leaning back into her seat and thinking about all the genuine worries that were introduced by love as well as the sweetest things. "i have no idea how to say this, without sounding like an ass..." there was another pause, and for some irritating reason, she was getting nervous. "it feels like a burden, but one that comes with the best kind of reward? i-... i don't fucking know." she looked over, "i like it though."

"is this sad boy hours? it's only like, 9pm dude."

❛ how are you still alive? ❜ - eden

dae almost always caves in the face of conversations getting too personal with feelings and emotions- it was common enough knowledge to leave it out of the question. especially if a genuine response is desired. this was different though. the soothing reality about eden and dae's sibling-like connection was that they didn't even need to brush over it, they laughed their chaotic stories off like a twisted coping mechanism too set in it's ways to want to be addressed. it was seemingly toxic, but she didn't give a fuck. the drummer hated small talk, and all the flowery shit that came with it but didn't want a therapy session either. she felt so free slump into the tidal's couch, eyes low and high like clockwork as she'd turned to the other after hearing his reaction to the time she'd almost got herself killed breaking into someone's car to steal something back for a friend. "seeing as i didn't wait for the guys to be completely outta sight? i have no fucking idea, dude."

"i booked it" dae was cracking up here, imagining a younger dae looking back- sprinting from a bunch of older men with bad tattoo's and anger issues. "-... and nearly jumped from the second floor of a car lot. let's not pretend you haven't done worse, i could say the same to you fucker."

❛ how about a kiss before i go? ❜

dae sheepishly rubbed her eyes, watching him leave the bathroom dressed and freshened up for the day from their bed. her eyes couldn't even tear away for a moment, following his stature as he prepared to leave for work. the man was a weapon just breathing, let alone looking as alluring. "no," the selfish side of dae wanted to mean it, a little spite for leaving her. but, she knew she'd regret it later. so, she crawled to the edge of the bed in his black flannel, barely buttoned. she gave kai the closest thing to a pout she could so, and leaned her chin up. "fine."

❛ what aren’t you telling me? ❜

'alot of things', dae wanted to say. she didn't though. it was probably for the best, she didn't ever want sympathy- especially from one of her closest friends. "that i'm tired as fuck, and want to run away to denmark... or some shit." dae awkwardly grinned. "why?"

❛ are you here to kill me? ❜

dae let out a dry, but purposeful laugh. minseok would find her frightening, huh? she contemplated teasing him. she peered at him and then began to grin awfully slow, "-... if I am?" she dropped into a blank stare with intimidating and narrowing eyes waiting for a response.

"kidding." dae patted him on the back.

dae scoffed playfully, "damn, is this what you think of your noona?"