Still A_Stray: Living With Stray Kids (ot8 fanfic)

Outro: Ending

So....

That's it, y'all. 

Give yourselves a round of applause! Thank you all so, so much for sticking with it until the end (unless you've skipped to this chapter because you're bored, in that case go back and keep reading. I'm onto you).

I love hearing from you guys, so please feel free to comment anything you found interesting, or funny, or any advice or constructive criticism you have for this story. I'm always looking for ways to make it better (I'm a little iffy about the ending).

And as promised, here's the explanation for what I was talking about in Interlude #2:

           Basically, the story takes place right before skz's 5 Star era.  The choreography they're learning during the dance practices in chapters 26 and 34 is S-Class choreo and the song Bangchan and Yeji are talking about in chapter 18 is S-class. JYP talking about how the album is getting bad reviews for being construction noise and having a bad concept during That chapter is all about 5 Star.

However, the members don't take place during that time. Let me explain:

You might have noticed that the physical descriptions of the members don't match up. For example, Minho is described as having purple hair, and Hyunjin dyes his hair three different colors over the course of the story. This is because although the members are present in the time period before 5 Star (which is around May 2023), they each represent a different Stray Kids era and embody that through their physical appearance and personality.

I matched the era with whichever member I think owns it best. (Keep in mind this is my opinion).

Chan---I Am era (gray)

Minho---Oddinary era (green)

Changbin---Clé era (Miroh, Side Effects, Levanter) (yellow)

Hyunjin---In Life (orange/red)

Jisung---Noeasy (blue)

Felix---Go Live (white)

Seungmin---Maxident (pink)

Jeongin---Skz2021 (silver)

Here are my main reasons behind each pairing:

Chan

- curly blond hair Chan is superior and nobody can change my mind

- him having an older era fit more with his leader personality

- his character relates a lot to Yeji in the story, hence "I am you"

Minho

- Minho shone out so much during Maniac, his dancing and vocals were top tier

- Also purple hair Minho was iconic

- I just feel liked he owned that whole era

Changbin

- his raps were gold during literally every song

- Changbin with a side part and undercut was so beautiful

- I think he was better in the earlier years so I wanted to give him that

Hyunjin

- three hair colors in a month bro, he is an icon

- he really owned the choreo of backdoor in my opinion

- his singing and lyricism also comes out a lot in Ex and Any

Jisung

- like Minho, he shone a lot in Thunderous

- he also wrote a lot of the songs in Noeasy and I wanted to give him credit for it

-  his character is really loud and confident in the story and I think that fits with Noeasy's concept

Felix

- COOKIN' LIKE A CHEF IMMA FOIVE STAR MICHELIN

- nothing further to say

Seungmin

- he just owned Maxident in general. Vocals? Perfect. Visual? Pink hair Seungmin is everything we didn't know we needed. Dance? Again amazing. I feel like he's progressed so much in the later years of skz and I wanted him to have an era that reflected that

Jeongin

- he was originally The Sound era actually but I decided to change it, mostly just because The Sound is a Japanese album so it's kinda different from the other eras

- Skz2021 Jeongin was also just superior. Whenever you think of N/S you also think of Jeongin. There's no way around it. Everything was 10/10 for him in that song

- I also just feel like a lot of the vibes of that era fit him well, like Hoodie season and Insomnia match him in real life and his character in the story.

The chapters with stars are ones where Yeji has an important conversation with one of the members/gains a new understanding about them. Since those chapters are so central to her relationship with each character, I sprinkled in hints to the member/era pairings by writing the names of the title tracks into the story. For example, during Jisung's panic attack in chapter 30, I used the word 'thunderous' to describe him. During Yeji's conversation with Minho about dancing, she mentions that he looks like a maniac. See what I mean?

Other titles of non-title track songs are also interspersed throughout the story, but I'll leave you guys to find those on your own. 

You'll also notice that the song excerpts at the beginning of the starred chapters are all from the era of the member I focused on in that chapter. (For example, during Chan's starred chapter when he's talking to Yeji about his work, the song excerpt is from I Am You).

Did I sprinkle in any more eggshells and clues? Who knows? I guess you'll just have to read through it all over again to find out. ;)

Thank you all again for reading this way-too-long, slow-burn-plot, can-I-even-call-it-a-fanfic fanfic. And, as always, happy reading.

~Aviva