The male, second from the left could be heard counting very quietly, if you had the video turned up loud enough. As his count reached five, the four males sitting along the length of the table all moved in sync.

“Hello, we are SHINee” they chanted, their right arms raised perpendicular to the table in front of them.

The same male who had counted before let out a quiet sigh as he ruffled his hair gently. The action left the locks in a tousled mess that completely ruined the careful styling that had likely gone into it only minutes before. Looking into the camera, he spoke, directly to the audience, “I wish this video was being made under better circumstances.”

“Yeah,” the youngest chimed in. “We could do dancing or challenges or something.”

“It's always dancing with you, Taemin,” the boy on the far right snarked, “and you always win those contests.”

“Because he cheats,” the tallest male, sat between the sassy one and the leader said, looking pointedly at the youngest member at the end.

“Who? Me?” Taemin asked, radiating innocence. Though, if one looked closely there was a wicked quirk to the left corner of his mouth that gave away his true feelings whilst the rest of his face remained impressively innocent looking.

“No the person sat next to you.” The sassy male snarked.

“Onew!” Taemin gasped, looking at the oldest member of the group in shock. His gasp was completely fake and not even a little bit convincing. Honestly, it was lucky the boy had no intention of going into acting, unlike the tallest member. “How could you?”

“I meant your other side, Mr. Genius,” the male teased, flipping his hair out of his eyes.

“But there's no one there...” the youngest said, confused. It took a second, a second the other members watched him avidly, waiting for it to click, but the teen finally understood. “Hey!” He protested, his cheeks puffed up in anger.

The two males on the right both burst into peals of laughter, clutching each other as they gasped for breath.

Sighing once more the eldest male spoke once more, louder than before, his tone commanding “Key, Minho, settle.”

Both males visibly pulled themselves together and sat up straight in their seats. Key adjusted his outfit using the small camera screen before looking at his leader once more seeing he hadn't continued talking. “Well, go on then, Onew.”

“I was just making sure you were ready.” Onew said, rolling his eyes. “You seemed pretty absorbed in fixing your hair.” Turning to the camera once more he suddenly became much more serious. “As I said before I was interrupted,” here he shot looks at the other members which they skillfully deflected and acted like they were completely unaffected, “this video is being made to combat a very serious issue.”

“It's really a shame,” Taemin reflected, “that we have to do this.”

“Not because we mind being here, in fact it was Onew's idea,” Minho clarified. The youngest member’s wording, although accurate, could be misinterpreted so he felt the need to explain properly. “But the fact that we need to have this discussion at all.”

“As some of you may be aware, there has recently been an issue among some members of SHINee World.” The leader spoke, his voice betraying his sadness.

“As a group, we have always embraced all our fans; whether they be male, female, young, old, whatever.” Taemin said, his young face more serious than many fans would be used to seeing.

“Yet,” Key continued, “some of our fans apparently don’t think that way.”

Minho spoke next, his voice serious and deep. He looked straight at the camera, his large eyes unblinking. “Hurting others is not acceptable. We do not want that to be our group’s legacy. We love all our fans whole heartedly but we cannot accept bullying in any form.”

“Attacking someone for something they cannot control, or for their line of work or their personal tastes.” The leader sighed, running his hand through his hair once more, “How would you feel, if your personal information was shared online for all to see? What about if someone mocked you for being slightly different? It isn’t nice and it isn’t something we want to see among our fans.”

Key took over talking then, his face serious and his eyes narrowed dangerously, “I know I am disappointed and I’m sure the others are too,” Here the other members of the group nodded in agreement, “and I hope we never need to make this announcement again.”

“Just be nice to each other, guys. It’s not hard.” Taemin said, looking directly at the camera.

“We know this behaviour isn’t from all our fans.” Onew said, placating. There were guaranteed to be a small subset in the fandom who, despite not doing anything wrong, would feel that this video was targeting them in some way and would get angry. Therefore, in most cases, being explicitly clear was best in order to avoid angering someone. “In fact, a lot of you spoke out against the initial bullying post online. This message isn’t for you. This message is only for those who bully others. Please think about your actions and how they affect other people. Bullying is a major issue and people’s lives can be badly affected by it. Please remember that before you press send on that scathing message or say that insult.”

“As for the rest of you,” Minho said, leaning back in his chair, “We appreciate you and everything you have done to support us. Thank you for these fantastic years.”

“We will continue working hard and hope you will support us in our future work too. There’s some cool stuff coming!” Taemin said, winking at the camera.

“Taemin,” the leader warned, shooting a look at the youngest member of the group.

“What?” The boy asked, playing innocent once more, “I didn’t spoil anything. We’re SHINee, anything we do is cool.”

“You could never be cool,” Key snarked, reaching round to ruffle the boy’s hair, chuckling when it elicited a growl of annoyance. “Down, puppy.”

Taemin stuck his tongue out at the rapper and crossed his arms, pouting. Though, if anyone mentioned the expression on his face he would protest, claiming he only pouted when he was doing aegyo and that his expression was merely manly annoyance. He turned his head away from the sassy male, muttering to himself “If I’m a puppy you’re a cat. A feral one.”

“I heard that!” Key shot back.

Onew groaned, placing his head in his hands. Minho, seeing his leader’s distress, reached round and patted him on the back in a comforting manner. Looking up at the younger rapper, Onew smiled slightly before sitting up straight and clearly pulling himself together.

“So, we are sorry we had to say this and if you weren’t involved we are sorry for wasting your time.” The male started, “And if you were involved, even in a small way, please consider your actions in the future and remember that those words on the internet are being sent to a real person, with real feelings. Thank you for watching and we hope to see you soon with better news.” His piece said, the male bowed to the camera, an action that was quickly mirrored by the other three group members, and waved, a smile on his face.

“Hope to see you at our shows and please support our next comeback. It’s a dream!” The youngest chirped happily and, just before the camera clicked off the leader was seen turning to the boy and swatting him gently on the head in reprimand. If one looked closely it was possible to see the oldest male mutter something to himself and, a lip reader would be able to discern the word ‘kids’.

-

Jonghyun kept finding himself looking at his phone. It wasn’t a conscious thing but, whenever his phone was in his hands and he had a little free time, he’d find himself in his messenger app, staring at the name displayed there.

Jonghyun and Onew, after watching the videos had talked for hours. The topics were generally light – SHINee’s schedules, Jonghyun’s composition, their likes, dislikes. It was a relaxing afternoon and a dream come true for the composer. It was honestly surprising how much the two men had in common and how well they got along. However, it was the singer’s actions just before he left the room that stunned the composer the most. As the two stood, Jonghyun had grabbed his phone from the table, going to place it in his pocket, but it had been taken from his hands before he could. Onew, upon seeing the phone locked, had pouted, and held it out to the blonde. Understanding what the singer wanted, Jonghyun unlocked the device and handed it back. Onew, after typing something quickly, had handed the phone back and left the room with an amused “nice background.”

Jonghyun had blushed with embarrassment because both his lockscreen and wallpaper were SHINee – the lock screen a cool fan art he had found and the wallpaper was a photo of Onew himself – before unlocking the phone himself to see what the other male had done. Upon seeing it he had been glad he was stood near the table, as he needed its support to remain upright. There, among his contacts, just above Jiwoong, was a name that wasn’t there before. Jinki.

He had the phone number of an idol. He had the phone number of his ultimate bias. He had the phone number and he would never ever use it due to embarrassment. The other male had said, during their talk, that if Jonghyun ever needed to talk he should contact him. At the time, Jonghyun had taken it as a pleasantry, an expected statement said as a mode of comfort. However, now he possessed the phone number of the man in question, that statement took on a whole new meaning.

That didn’t mean he was ever going to use the number, he was far too nervous to do that. He had no right to bother the singer. Onew had so many other things to do in his day that weren’t talking to pathetically obsessed composers.

-

It was only four days after the meeting that Jonghyun’s phone went off. He had been staring at the number during lunch, much to the confusion of his office mates – although they were pleased he seemed to be consistently more cheerful recently – when the device had vibrated in his hands. It was only then he had come to learn that, not only did the singer give the blonde his number, but he had also called or texted himself from Jonghyun’s phone.

Jinki 12:36pm
Photoshoots are so boring. Save me from this torture :c

Jonghyun 12:42pm
I don’t think I can do that, Onew. Why is it so torturous?

Youngchul looked at the boy concerned. He had been zoned out, staring at something on his phone, for the past ten minutes and then he had suddenly tensed and started to look really nervous. The young composer had started to chew his lip, a clear sign of his nerves, and typed and deleted something multiple times on the device in his hands.

“You ok there, kiddo?” The man asked, studying his office mate and trying to discern what was wrong.

“Huh? Yeah,” the blonde said, absently, only half paying attention. “I just…” he gestured at his phone, “text.”

Youngchul chuckled and looked at the other office members at the table. In an exaggerated whisper he said, “Young love.”

Everyone else at the table chuckled, the only woman laughing out loud, a high pitched laugh that set people’s teeth on edge. Jonghyun didn’t notice this exchange at all. He was too absorbed in the latest message he had received to his phone. He didn’t even notice when the rest of his table mates left to go back to work, except when Youngchul patted him on the shoulder as he walked past, giving him a knowing smirk as he did so.

Jonghyun was glad he had taken lunch a little late today. Hence, whilst everyone else had already had their half an hour, Jonghyun still had a good fifteen minutes to go.

Jinki 12:43pm
So stiff. I thought we were becoming friends.

Jonghyun 12:45pm
I’m not stiff. You’re stiff.

Jinki 12:47pm
That’s more like it. Banter, good progress.

Jonghyun 12:48pm
So whys the shoot so boring?

Jinki 12:50pm
Its not my turn. Tae’s going atm and I’m stuck watching

Jonghyun 12:52pm
aww is poor Onew bored?

Jinki 12:55pm
Jinki. My name is Jinki. We’re becoming friends so you should use my name :3

Jonghyun 12:57pm
Jinki, then. This feels weird. I didn’t think Id ever talk to you again less than a week ago and now you’re saying you want to be friends

Jonghyun was glad there was no one else still in the break room because a second after he sent that message he had actually flailed in his seat. He couldn’t believe he had said that. What if Onew – Jinki – was offended by what he said or decided it was weird to want to be friends with a fan. Jonghyun didn’t want that to happen.

Breathing deeply, the blonde placed his phone face down on the table in front of him. He knew if it was in his hands he would second guess himself and probably send a follow-up message that would be horribly embarrassing and he would probably regret. Grabbing his plate, Jonghyun walked across the room to the sink and began to wash it. His hands moved slowly and methodically, probably being more thorough than was strictly necessary. However, as this action was an effort to distract himself from his phone, it worked well.

As he was rinsing the plate of suds a vibration sounded from the table. Jonghyun’s fingers fumbled, the plate clattering against the metal sink loudly. Ignoring the noise and the fallen plate, Jonghyun practically leapt across the room and landed in the chair, grabbing his phone as he did so, not even caring about the water that smeared across the screen.

The device now in his hands, Jonghyun was suddenly nervous to read the response. He knew it was illogical. He had talked to the other male for hours and never once had he given any indication that he was doing it only out of obligation. In fact, the male had explicitly stated that he wanted to become friends with the composer. Yet, Jonghyun was still a little worried. How could he not be?

Inputting his passcode, the blonde squinted his eyes shut, before opening them slowly. He growled in annoyance when he realised his message app was closed and clicked on the icon, possibly more roughly than he needed to.

Jinki 1:00pm
Is it weird? I don’t think it’s weird for two people with things in common to want to become friends. You seem like a nice guy and I’d like to get to know you a little more.

Jonghyun let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding and text the other male back, a sense of relief overtaking him. The two exchanged messages for a little longer, breaking away from any serious topics and instead discussing only lighthearted things. It wasn’t until Jonghyun received a message from the idol stating he had to leave to shoot his part and wouldn’t be able to reply so fast any more that Jonghyun realised it was 1:15pm and he had been messaging the singer for a good fifteen minutes longer than he should have.

Walking back into the office, making sure to keep his head down so as not to attract the attention of the other office workers. The composer sat at his desk and quickly put his headphones on and logging into his computer. Youngchul snickered from behind him, unheard by the youngest in the office due to the music already playing through his ear pieces.

Jonghyun’s work that afternoon was distracted and he made little progress on the song he was supposed to write – for the album of a female solo artist this time. However, he made incredible progress on a series of new pieces. If anyone had looked closely at the pieces, they would have seen that every single one was split into four parts and suspiciously fit the singing abilities of a certain boy group. Luckily, no one did see and, as he was packing up to go home, Jonghyun mused that it was ok that he didn’t get much work done on official songs, since there were elements of the new songs – half formed as they were – that could be modified or serve as inspiration on other songs. Hopefully, he would be more focused the next day.

Although, as his phone vibrated in his pocket as he was walking out of the building, he wasn’t sure that would happen.

 

---

CHAPTER NOTES: Can you imagine, though? Can you imagine?

And I apologise for the lack of visuals here. I tried to persuade SHINee to record a fake video for me but I was thwarted at the first hurdle when I realised I can't get time off work to go all the way to Korea.