“Remember. You’re the leader. Keep an eye on the other girls.”

As if she needed to be told twice.

There were seven girls total in the group, the rest of whom looked to her for guidance and protection. For someone whose name meant Lily, a beautiful and pristine flower, she was often quite vicious when it came to the safety and happiness of her team members. ‘Nari the Guard Dog of the Singing Birds’ as she was often referenced inside and outside of the company.

She was the tallest and easily the strongest. Being a 7th dan black belt in Taekwondo, a former student of Taekkyeon and numerous other martial arts, and her general application of boxing as a form of working out and conditioning made her a force to be reckoned with. Her great- great- great- great- great- grandfather was a Taekkyeon master and made all of his descendants at least study the art or another great Korean martial art for a minimum of one year; she did that and more. She was the future head of their family branch, after all. She was light on her feet and had a great sense of rhythm, which made her the perfect lead dancer for the group in addition to being the guard dog and leader.

“Yes sir.”

“And win a medal. You girls may be on the rise, but we need to keep pushing.”

“Of course sir. We will do our best.”

“As you should. Weren’t you a track star? You run pretty fast, don’t you?”

“I run well, sir.” She nodded. “I should be able to medal.”

“Good. Here’s the signup form for the individual events. You don’t all have to participate, but I would like a total of three events from you girls. It would be for the best in getting screen time.”

“I agree sir.”

“And… even if I said to medal, don’t get hurt. Any of you. It’s supposed to be a friendly competition. Make some friends. Hwayun is great at making friends, so she’ll be fine. Same goes for Areum. I know you typically struggle to interact with other girls at first -- since you’ve been in generally masculine or male dominated fields growing up, but try to play nice and get to know others. You’re becoming the current trend for ‘Girl Crush’, so keep that up.”

“With all due respect, sir, I don’t exactly know what I’m doing in regards to my reputation as a ‘Girl Crush’. I don’t know how to keep that up…”

“Just… keep being the guard dog. To you and us, you’re like vicious dog for the girls. However, your fans see you as a princely knight or something. Plus I’ve seen clips of you teasing the fans in an almost manly manner. The girls are very cute and delicate, very feminine types. You stick out more because of them, so stay around them or very feminine girls to emphasize your differences. You’ve done fine so far.”

“I’ll keep that in mind sir.”

“Finish the sign up as soon as possible. You’re dismissed.”

“Thank you sir.” She bowed deeply before returning to the dance practice room.

“Are we going?!” The six other girls excitedly asked her.

“Yes!” Nari grinned. “This is the event signup sheet. He said we don’t all have to participate, but we need a total of three events at least, which is fine. I can run the 60m. Hwayun, Shinji, and I can participate in Ssireum. And we can try our best for the relay or the archery.”

“Why not do everything!” Areum grinned. “Jinhee, Soohae, and I can do archery. We won’t do well anyway, but at least we’ll get to do something. And in the relay, it can be Nari, Hwayun, Shinji, and Saera.”

“I’m not fast at running though.” Saera protested. Shinji scoffed and mentioned that she herself was the slowest runner of the group.

“You’re faster than us, and who cares? We won’t win. Our only real runner is Nari. It’s the first time we get to do this. Let’s just try.”

“Areum is right. It’s the first time we’re going to this. Why not participate in everything we can? We don’t need to win, we just need to have fun. Plus, I have explicit directions for us to have fun and make friends from the boss. That’s the idea here anyway, isn’t it? Let’s do it.”

“Alright. We’ll do our best!” The girls giggled excitedly.

To participate in any of the Idol Athletic competitions was a dream for any trainee, and having only debuted this past July, the girls had been trainees until about 5 months ago. They weren’t invited to the Chuseok special in September, but with their rather successful comeback in November, they were able to get enough attention for an invitation to the Lunar New Year special. It was like a sign they were really idols now.

“Maybe we’ll get our competition to forfeit in the ssireum event.” Hwayun laughed. “After all, it was the video of Nari and Jinhee that got us attention.”

The video in question was a fancam of one of their performances. Or, rather, the end of their performance. One of the pyrotechnics messed up and went off a few seconds too soon when Jinhee was still almost directly in front of it. It scared her and made her jump back in a panic, tripped over herself, over corrected and tried to steady herself over a couple more steps. However, she hadn’t looked where she was going and nearly fell off the stage backwards. Luckily for her, Nari saw and ran across the stage from the other side of the group and grabbed her one-armed around her waist, swung her around and up into her arms princess style before carrying her back safely to the center of the stage with the other girls.

The video went viral and Nari was getting asked to appear everywhere.

Her masculine mannerisms and more gentlemanly nature got her more attention as the ‘Girl Crush’, especially if she appeared on shows with the girls, usually Areum and Jinhee, as one was gorgeous and the friendliest of them and the other was the one she saved.

“If she can easily catch and carry Jinhee in that situation, she can easily do the same for any of them.” Soohae nodded.

“Regardless. Let’s do our best.” Nari smiled. “Let’s get back to practice. Our special stage is in a week and I think we should be better than where we are now. Soohae and Shinji are still coming in short to the chorus.”

“The chorus is the hardest part!” They whined.

“You’re right. So let’s practice it until we can do it in our sleep.” Nari tossed the signup sheet to the side and clapped her hand, signalling the start of practice.

Wearing the all too familiar track suits and tying the name tags around their chest was surreal to the girls. Walking into the building to line up with the other groups was even more mind blowing.

Most of Canary had never really interacted with any other idols.

Nari only had minor interactions due to her many variety show appearances, and Areum and Jinhee were usually the two who appeared with her on shows the most. Areum, like her name, was beautiful and outgoing. Jinhee, though far shyer, was cute and cavity-causing-ly sweet.

Hwayun, Soohae, and Areum filmed the most vlogs for their YouTube channel, and Shinji was their primary Tweeter and personally replied to messages on the fancafe with Saera. They all posted a lot of cover videos and completed fan requests if they could. The group honestly interacted with fans more than fellow idols.

The six girls followed Nari’s cue and bowed deeply and politely to everyone they encountered.

The numerous looks Nari received was not unnoticed by the group members, but if Nari wasn’t saying anything, then they weren’t either. At least not in public.

“What’s up with people staring at you all the time?” Shinji asked.

“It's my image. They find me curious.” She answered with a sigh. “Especially since part of my image makes them think I'm a lesbian and for some people, they get weirded out by that even if I say I'm not.”

“It probably doesn't help that the younger members keep calling you their Prince.” Hwayun grinned.

“You say that as if you didn't start that.” Nari scoffed.

“I know.” Hwayun and the girls all giggled. “Our Prince Nari has stolen our maiden hearts.”

“You're ridiculous.” Nari shook her head with a fond smile.

For all her reputation in the company as a vicious guard dog, she was actually quite gentle natured… just with incredible self discipline. She was the second oldest in the group, but she acted as the guardian figure to everyone. Occasionally her playful side would come out, but more often than not, she was content with just watching the girls play around and . They were sweet girls with big hearts who took her in and adored her for mannerisms she was constantly told were too manly and weird. Thus, she was fiercely protective of them and made sure they were always safe and happy no matter what. That was why she was chosen as the leader even though she had the shortest training period.

“This is all so cool.” Soohae and Jinhee swooned together. Saera was looking around with stars in her eyes. The maknae line had always found more fascination and beauty in the world than the older girls.

“And we’re finally a part of it.” Shinji smiled wistfully. She had the longest and most tumultuous training period of the girls and was all the more caring because of it- though she did hide it behind a cold exterior of a poker face to people she didn't know well yet.

“Let's go make some friends!” Hwayun and Areum clapped excitedly together, looking at the other idols in tracksuits. The both of them could charm and make friends with a tree stump. The maknae line played well together but shied away from strangers for the most part. Shinji and Nari were usually more interested in practicing alone.

“Don't cause any trouble.” Nari warned them with a resigned sigh as Areum led Hwayun towards a girl group member she had befriended on set.

“Nari!”

Nari whipped her head around to find the vaguely familiar voice. It belonged to Tzuyu from Twice. They met backstage of a music show. Tzuyu had gotten lost and was struggling to ask for help from the busy staff when Nari bumped into her.

‘Do you need help?’ Nari asked carefully after seeing the look of distress on the other girl.

‘I don't know… Restroom… But now…’

‘Did you get lost going to the restroom? Or do you need help getting back to the waiting rooms?’ Nari questioned politely.

‘Waiting room.’

‘Alright, I'll show you.’ Nari smiled and led the girl back to where she was supposed to be.

They had stilted conversations, but they joked and laughed all the same. They became something of friends ever since.

“Tzuyu! You're here too?”

“Yes! I am bad at sports, but it is fun.”

“I like sports. I'm excited.” Nari nodded. “I'm sad that we are in different teams.” She gestured to the different colors of their tracksuits sadly.

“Me too. Come sit with us? Canary too.”

“Of course. The girls would love to get to know you and Twice better.”

Nari rounded up her group members and lined them up with their team, ‘Overnight Puppies’. No one knew each other, so they simply greeted each other politely and made small talk.

“You're prettier than I'd thought you'd be.” One of the guys in their team stated oddly bluntly to Nari.

“Um… Thank you? I thought I had looked fine on TV. I'll do better…?”

“Nah. It's more because of your reputation. I figured a manly chick wouldn't be pretty.”

“Is that so?” Nari laughed awkwardly and started looking for a discreet escape route from the conversation. “Well. I'll just… Take that as a compliment. Thank you. I think my band member needs my help, so I'll see you around. Best of luck.”

Nari huffed out a breath of relief when she finally sat amongst her group members while still waiting to be let into the gym.

“Nari?” Soohae called out. “Um… I got asked if you like girls…”

“I figured that would happen.” Nari sighed heavily. “I don't. Just tell them the truth. As persistent as they all are, they probably won't believe you unless you lied and gave them the answer they wanted.”

“It's almost comical how badly they want you to be gay.” Shinji scoffed while braiding Saera’s hair for her. “Everybody wants someone to gossip about.”

“Let them gossip.” Nari shrugged it off. “The speculation gets us attention. I've said time and time again that I'm not gay. It's not on me if they don't believe me. Plus, our shouldn't matter even if I was.”

Lining up and entering the stadium to the cheers of fans was exhilarating. Everyone sat together in their groups at the start of things, but soon, groups were splitting up and intermingling. Nari brought the girls over to meet Twice, and sure enough, they all hit it off. As more events were getting prepared, the girls started venturing off and meeting others or grabbing snacks.

The ssireum competition was fun. Hwayun and Nari won every time. Hwayun was the main dancer with hard earned muscles and had practiced often against Nari for this event. Shinji had nearly lost the one round she was in, but managed to overturn the girl in time.

Nari was gentle to her opponents and never dragged out the round. She always lifted them up and laid them out on the mat carefully. It was a clear display of her overwhelming strength as well as the reason she was the masculine Girl Crush at the moment. Her opponents always looked up at her from the mat shyly and with stars in their eyes. Nari never failed to apologize and ask if she had accidentally hurt them as she helped them back up to bow to each other. Then she'd walk the girls back to their groups before returning to Canary. The girls would always jump on her excitedly and make her carry them around, but she just took it all in stride.

“I think our prince has acquired more maidens’ hearts today.” Hwayun teased.

“Our prince is always such a gentleman.” Areum snickered.

“Hush. I'm being polite. This isn't really a fair event with all of my training. It's the least I can do.”

“The least you can do is not hurt them. Walking them back as they swoon over you and shoot hearts out of their eyes at you is being extra.” Shinji grinned.

“It's not like I'm treating them like I treat you girls. This is much less than what I do for all of you…”

“You would've carried them like a princess all the way back and sing an apology to them if you treated them like you treat us.”

“That's ridiculous. I don't sing.” Nari smirked.

“HA NARI IS THE MAN OF MY DREAMS!” Someone in the stands had screamed hoarsely suddenly.

“Daebak!” The girls all laughed as it dawned on Nari and everyone what they had just heard.

“SHE IS THE MAN OF OUR DREAMS TOO!” The members of Canary had yelled back. Nari just hid her red face in her hands.

Nari nudged Hwayun, “Just get up there for your turn.”

And so of course Canary won the gold for the event amidst a lot of teasing for that comment.

“I think we had an unfair advantage. Everyone's dream man was on our team. A man in a woman's event? Is that really fair?” Hwayun had teased after they won.

“I'm a girl.” Nari groaned. “I'd like to dedicate this win to the fan in the stands who made that amazing comment. I'm never going to live this down now.” She smiled wryly. “And thank you. I'm flattered. You're the woman of my dreams too. I'll be dreaming of this moment for years, I'm sure.” She laughed in good humor.

“Wow, Canary with its 6 girls and 1 boy members is really on the rise.” The MC grinned. “These Overnight Puppies are already claiming a gold medal on their first go at this competition. Are they puppies? Or are they wolves?”

“We’re songbirds. It’s in our name, Canary.” Soohae giggled.

“Oh, I suppose you are right.”

“I mean, our princely dream man has a special nickname in the company.” Shinji smirked. “‘Nari the Guard Dog of the Singing Birds’ is what they call her when she gets protective of us.”

Nari play growled like a threatening guard dog. “It’s true. But the girls… they’re just so sweet and most of them are so accommodating to other people that they don’t even realize they’re being bullied or taken advantage of. I’m unnecessarily strong so I use my skills for good for them. They’re more like kittens, but I do accept the claim of wolves.” She grinned. “Thank you, we are truly honored to make a name for ourselves and the rest of the Overnight Puppies. Don’t take us lightly.” She tried to re-sum things up neatly so they could move things along again.

They watched the boys prepare and warm up next for the ssireum event. The male teams from Overnight Puppies didn’t do as well as they did, but they did their best to cheer them on anyway.

“Ah, maybe the dream man would have done better and helped them win.” The MC joked when they lost.

“That’s such a mean thing to say.” Nari protested from the sideline. “Up10tion and Monsta X did their best and I think they did really well. I am honored to be on the same team. I’m certain the rest of Overnight Puppies agree.”

“Don’t upset our prince. She believes in fairness and true efforts. To look down on that really upsets her.” Shinji sighed with a fond smile at their leader. “She’s got great sportsmanship and expects that from others.”

“Well, why not have her come up here and just see if she could beat one of these guys who beat her team members?” The MC asked.

“That’s truly not good sportsmanship.” Nari frowned.

“What are you? An actual athlete?” He scoffed haughtily. People laughed.

“I’m trained in Taekkyeon, a 7th dan in Taekwondo, and I box in my free time. I spent most of my life as an athlete. You can say old habits die hard.” She chuckled tersely.

“Well now you’re an idol. Come up and show us if you can beat one of the guys.”

Nari bit her lip and got up. “Understood, sunbaenim.” She bowed deeply to the members of Up10tion. “I apologize.” She turned and bowed to the members of VIXX who looked severely uncomfortable. “I apologize. It seems we all are put in a tight spot.”

“It’s okay. We’re used to being asked to do weird things.” Ken smiled gently down at her. “Do you want me to let you win? We can just make it funny.”

“It’s okay. We can do it for real.” She shrugged. “It’s not in my nature to not put in true effort.” She smiled uncomfortably. “Shall we start?” She asked, not looking at the MC.

“Ah, what’s with that kind of attitude? This is all in good fun!” He jokingly shoved her shoulder. She didn’t budge at all. “What the?! You’re like a wall of muscle!”

“Yeah… I work out occasionally.” She joked. “I think we should just start so they can move on to the final round. That’s what everyone is waiting for.”

“Fine, fine. Let’s go!”

Nari bowed politely and adjusted herself so he could better reach the the rope on her thigh. “Don’t worry about hurting me or making me uncomfortable with touching me. I’m fine.” She murmured to Ken. “This will be over quickly anyway.”

She let him maneuver them around a couple steps before she took him down swiftly. It was like a repeat of what she did in the women’s event, but with a much bigger person. It took more work to throw him off balance and flip him over her waist. She didn’t slam him down or even just let him drop. She stopped him just short of the mat and gently laid him down, securing her victory.

“Are you okay?” She asked when he blinked up at her in shock. “I tried to be gentle, but your height and weight advantage… I had to put more force into it with you. Did I hurt you anywhere?”

“I get it. You’re now my dream man too.” Ken smiled up at her dopily.

That startled out a bark of laughter from her. “Did I hit you in the head?” She extended a hand to help him up. She bowed, showing her respect and sportsmanship. “That was a good round. You did well.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Doing nothing is better than doing wrong in some cases.” She nodded sagely. “Let’s get you back to your group so we can move things along once more.” She escorted him to his group, just as she had for the girls. “Thank you for your time and effort. It was much appreciated.” She bowed deeply to VIXX and turned back to the MC. “Thank you.” She bowed and returned to where the Overnight Puppies were seated. She bowed on her knees to the two boy groups in her team. “I regret the part I played in undermining your strengths and efforts in this event.”

“It’s… okay… It , but who cares? This guarantees some coverage of our participation at least.” They smiled down at her. “Get up. It’s really fine.”

“She needs to punish herself to show repentance.” Shinji grimaced. “Nari, you’re making them uncomfortable. If you gotta punish yourself with kneeling, hobble this way and just kneel at us or something.”

“My grandfather would be ashamed of me.” Nari sighed as she hobbled to the girls, ignoring the pain on her knees. “He always told us not to take part in trying to embarrass someone else for being less skilled than us.”

“You are literally the strongest person in this room.” Saera smiled wryly. “Just accept that you make people curious and curious people aren’t always… well-mannered.”

“I suppose.”

“IT’S OKAY HA NARI! YOU’RE STILL THE MAN OF MY DREAMS!” The same fan from before screamed at that moment. Even Nari in all her guilt couldn’t stop from laughing and nodding.

“That guy won all of his rounds.” Soohae nodded at the maknae of BTS, Jungkook. “The same could’ve been said for Ken, but I’m counting Nari as a loss for him.”

“BTS usually does well.” Hwayun nodded. “They were in the winning team for the Chuseok special.”

“We know. We watched it together.” Areum laughed teasingly.

The groups all waited for the crew to remove the ssireum mats and set up the track for the 60m event. Nari was talking to Jungyeon about confusingly being a girl crush when Taehyung, crouched nearby to talk to BtoB’s Sungjae who was relaxing with his group, paused in the middle of chatting loudly about something.

“Hey, I think your group member is looking for you?” Taehyung caught Nari’s attention to tell her. He pointed across the gym to where two male staff members were talking to Jinhee. She was looking around even though it seemed like the men were admonishing her about something.

“Thanks.” She nodded her head to Taehyung before doing a fast jog over to them. “What’s going on?”

“She broke a rule, and it’s best for everyone if we talked it out in private. There are a lot of fans and we don’t want to make this an issue. It’s not a big deal, but we were told to give her a formal warning by our bosses.”

“I’m her leader so I’m responsible for her. I’ll go with you and receive the warning and whatever punishment there is. I understand you’re just trying to do your job.”

The two men glanced between each other nervously. “Let me… ask our boss if that’s alright. We like to make things fair deal with rule breakers directly.” He spoke into his ear piece. She narrowed her eyes at that, and in the corner of her peripheral, she saw the second guy approach Jinhee and take her wrist.

Nari stepped between them and grabbed his arm. “Do not touch her. Identify yourselves.” She yanked his hand off Jinhee’s arm and pushed the younger girl behind her. “You’re using different radio headsets and I don’t even think the walkie talkies you’re using are even on. You’re definitely not on the right channel. Who are you and why are you trying to take Jinhee?”

“Like I said, she broke a rule. We’re just doing our job.”

Nari spoke over her shoulder. “Jinhee, go run back to the group.”

“What’s happening?” Jinhee whimpered, slowly starting to sense the danger in the air.

“Jinhee, I need you to go back to the group. I’m going to speak to these men about rules. I got this. Just go back and play. You’re fine.” Nari turned and pushed Jinhee away.

In that moment, one of the guys kicked her hard in the side. Jinhee screamed in terror. Nari rolled expertly and sprang back up to her feet. The two guys had knives out now. One tried to get to Jinhee, and the other was coming at Nari. Everyone had turned when Jinhee screamed and now they were panicking at the scene unfolding before them as well.

“Jinhee get back!” Nari yelled before darting between Jinhee and her assailant, the one coming after herself couldn’t keep up.

Almost too fast for him to see, she grabbed his right hand holding the knife with her left hand and used the junction between her thumb and forefinger to hit his neck with near fatal precision. He dropped to his knees, choking for air. She grabbed the knife from his hand and tossed it to the side away from them. She kept a grip on his arm as she flipped over him to intercept the second attacker. She kicked the wrist holding the knife, knocking it out effectively. She twisted and yanked the arm she was holding, dislocating the man’s shoulder and arm. She dropped him and turned to face the second man fully. He tried to throw a punch at her, but she deflected and kneed him in the stomach. She kicked him back. He winced and grumbled before charging at her again. She shifted her weight and lunged forward like she was going to face him head on. She switched at the last second and threw him over her waist, slamming him down on the ground and punched him hard enough in the face to effectively knock him out.

“Are you okay?” She asked Jinhee when she got back up.

“I… I’m okay… were they… Were they going to… hurt me?” She whimpered out through the shock of her tears as Nari made her way over to her. She let the real staff members figure things out. Her priority was Jinhee at the moment.

“No. If anyone wants to hurt you, they have to go through me. What good are my skills and muscles if fools and trash like that can get through me? Don’t worry. I promised to protect all of you, and I keep my promises.”

“I… I was scared.”

“I know. It’s okay now.”

“No, when they approached me and told me I broke a rule. I was scared and I was looking for you. I didn’t want to get yelled at and I knew you’d help me.”

“Of course. I’m the guard dog that protects you from harm, and I am your leader who is responsible for you. That’s fine.”

“But… if I… I almost went with them, Nari. I almost followed them.”

“I’m glad you didn’t. I’m glad you understood my role as your leader and friend is to be there for you at all times. Will you be alright with the girls? I have some words I need to say about the security of this place to the staff here.”

“Y-yeah. I’ll be fine.” Jinhee nodded and tried to take a step to walk to the rest of the Canary members who had stood on the edge of things, shaken. Her legs gave out and she nearly fell. Nari caught her easily and carried her to the girls. “I’m okay.” She smiled weakly up at the girls.

“Take care of her. She shouldn’t be alone right now. I need to go talk to them, give my statement, and figure out who I need to tear into about the clearly flawed security here.”

“Okay.” The girls nodded.

Nari spent half an hour giving her statement even though there were a number of people in the stands near them who had managed to record everything rather clearly. And then she spoke tersely to a number of staff members about security and how ridiculous it was that this situation occurred and what could have happened.

The officers had assured her on their way out ‘the moment these guys wake up, we’ll figure out their motive and plans’.

She went to the bathroom and let herself hyperventilate and cry for a moment before pulling herself back together. She was so overwhelmed and scared. Not for herself, but for her members whom she had almost failed to protect. Jinhee had almost followed the men. It wouldn’t have been a crazy thing for Jinhee to have chosen to do. What would Nari have done? What could she have done? She hadn’t even noticed Jinhee was so far away and talking to ‘staff members’. Not only was Jinhee lucky, but Nari was lucky to have been in time.

When she saw that she looked fine and not like she had just been crying on a toilet, she exited the bathroom and promptly bumped into someone.

“Sorr-Oh!” Taehyung jumped when he realized he had bumped into her.

“Sorry.” She bowed her head politely and gestured for him to give her space to properly exit the bathroom.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“I’m fine.” She nodded. “I…” She cleared and straightened her back like she was raised to do. “I wanted to thank you. If you hadn’t spotted Jinhee and told me… It would have been bad. Thank you.” She bowed further than 90 degrees to him. “I am in your debt and I could never repay you enough. Let me know if I could ever help you with something. Thank you so much.”

“It’s okay! I didn’t know it was that bad and I honestly didn’t do much. I just saw her.”

“And if you hadn’t seen her, I wouldn’t have, and she would have followed them.”

“Oh… I see. I really didn’t do anything to be thanked though. I’m sorry that happened.”

“I am too. She’s so shy and already so nervous with strangers. This won’t help her come out of her shell with others…”

“That’s okay. She has a lot of really nice group members like you to take care of her!” He grinned. It was infectious because soon she was grinning too. “Shall we head back?”

“We should.”

“Hey, what’s your favorite Big Bang song?” He asked as they walked back.

“Honestly? A Fool’s Only Tears.”

“That’s old.”

“I like it.” She shrugged. “It has a nice groove and it’s easy to sing along to no matter who you are. I’m not good at singing, and I’m just one who raps because I can memorize lyrics and I have a good sense of rhythm. But A Fool’s Only Tears makes me forget all of that and just sing while I’m driving or something. Pretend I’m in a music video and like it’s raining outside, you know? That’s silly, isn’t it?”

“No! That’s actually so true! And fun!” He beamed. “I knew you weren’t as serious as you seemed.”

“I have six girls to take care of. I can’t play around as much.”

“Being the leader seems rough.”

“It is, but I do the hard stuff so that they can be safe and happy. It makes me happy.”

“You really care about them.”

“Most strangers made fun of me or disliked me because I’m so masculine and I don’t speak like girls should. It used to bother me that I was not ‘normal’. It took a long time to really decide to audition since I knew I wasn’t really girl group material. I actually performed a Taekwondo-based routine for my audition. I’m not good at singing, but they deemed me passable on looks and dancing anyway. Then they put me in the training group with the girls, and I was uncomfortable at first. I spend a lot of time with guys, and I honestly did a lot of instructing and ordering people around for most of my life. I didn’t know what to do with the girls. All of the sudden, my hair was getting braided and instead of pointing out when I was weirdly masculine, they just laughed and told me that everyone had their quirks and they liked mine just fine. There’s a saying that if you treat a dog with kindness, it is loyal to you forever. I’m the loyal guard dog of Canary.” She smiled wryly. “It’s so fitting.”

“Oh. Hm, I can see that. They definitely really care about you too. They look up to you and stick with you a lot.”

“Of course. We're from a small company with a small number of trainees, but we trained and suffered together. Plus, it'd if I cared from them but they didn't care for me, right?”

“You're right.”

“What about you? What's your favorite Big Bang song?”

“All of them!”

“Seriously?”

“Yes!”

“Good choice. I personally like that one too.” She rolled her eyes and smiled wryly.

“What songs do you sing at karaoke?” He asked next, they were at the door to the gymnasium now. Everyone looked their way when they realized Nari was returning.

“I usually let the girls pick and just sing along with them. I’m really not good at singing like them. I like Beast’s songs though.”

“You’re supposed to say BTS’ songs.” Taehyung complained.

Nari laughed. “Ah, yes. I love your songs too. I’m not as good a rapper as you guys, but I try my best.” She nodded.

“Good! Because we sing your songs too.”

“Seriously?” She looked at him disbelievingly.

He stopped walking and immediately started dancing and singing the chorus to their recent title track, Let’s Date. “Your turn!”

She did her best and sang the chorus to I Need U though it took everything she had to sing as high as Jimin did for his part. She performed the choreography rather easily and with a bright smile.

“Ah! Very nice! You sing well!” Taehyung beamed down at her.

“Thank you!” She bowed with a smiled. “You sing really pretty too!”

“Jungkook does it better though.” He nodded and they continued walking and talking though their fans were watching them in confusion. “I’m glad you’re laughing and happy again. It was scary when you were upset.”

Nari looked taken aback by that. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No, I was scared for you, not of you. For some reason, I trust you not to hurt me. Probably because you’re the man of my dreams. But I didn’t know what you’d do and if you even cared if you got hurt. I don’t know you that well, but you seem like a good person.”

“From Girl Crush to Dream Man.” Nari chuckled. “I had originally thought that that was going to be the most memorable moment of today.” She sighed wistfully. “Thank you, again, for your part in saving Jinhee.”

“It was nothing.”

They had already made it back to where their groups were huddled up not far from each other. Nari turned to check on her girls when he called her attention back on him.

“Hey, you said if I needed your help with something, you’d help right?”

“Of course.” She nodded.

“Can you help me be more of a man? Cooler like you?”

Nari blanched and looked momentarily horrified until the words completely registered in her mind. Then she laughed. “I’m sorry, I thought you asked me to make a man out of you and I was just so shocked.” Those who heard were either amused or mildly scandalized. Taehyung laughed openly, slightly pink around the edges.

“Why is that shocking?” Soohae asked, closer to her than she expected since the younger member had gotten up to meet her leader halfway. “And how do you make him a man? Isn’t he already one?”

“Uh…” Nari glanced over at Shinji for help, but the main vocalist merely looked at her admonishingly like ‘you got yourself into this, you get yourself out’. “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you. Can you repeat yourself, please?” She asked, trying to buy herself some time to think of a safe and appropriate answer. Soohae innocently did as asked. “Ah, yes. I was shocked because I’m a girl and as you said, he is already born a man, yes. Now, to make him more manly, I suppose we should work on things like making him tranquil as a forest. I’d like to think a manly man is swift as the coursing river, but with all the force of a great typhoon.”

Soohae giggled. “I think a manly man would have the strength of a raging fire. He’d be as mysterious as the dark side of the moon.”

“Is that… Mulan?” Someone around them asked.

“Yes! I love Disney movies! I sing them all day!” Soohae chirped.

Nari laughed humorlessly. “Yes. All day long. All day.” There was something soulless and exhausted in the way she said that that made people laugh. She turned back to Taehyung. “Why do you want to be manlier? I think you’re fine.” She frowned slightly.

“Well, I’m going to be in Hwarang, and even if my character is younger and more playful, I should still know how to be… well, like you?”

“Like me?”

“You’re really cool! And all,” Taehyung mimed dramatic Kung Fu moves.

“Ah, you want to learn how to fight? Won't they give you training for that?”

“They will, but there's something really cool about you and how you do it. Like, you're super reliable!”

“I should hope so. I'm the leader.” She grinned. “And I’d love to teach you how to… Be like me? But I don't really know how.”

“Aw, okay. Then… I'll just watch you!”

“That's cool.” She shrugged. “I'm pretty boring though.”

“You literally just stopped an attempted abduction and destroyed two guys in like ten seconds. That's not boring.”

“Okay, yeah I did that, but that's not my everyday life.” Nari laughed. “Suit yourself and watch away. I hope you learn what you want from doing so.” She bowed politely to him one last time before joining her girls.

Immediately Jinhee glued herself to the older girl’s side, sitting on her lap and burying her face in the strong and comforting neck and shoulders. “Did you make a new friend?” The question was slightly muffled, but Nari understood it.

“I think so? He's very friendly, but more importantly, if he hadn't spotted you and told me that you seemed to be looking for me, I would've been too late to save you. I'm eternally grateful to him.”

“He's known for being friendly.” Jinhee nodded. “I'm glad you made a new friend. I made some new friends too. I'll introduce you to them later though.”

“Oh really? That's great!”

They stayed like that until a staff member informed them it was time for the runners for the 60 m ladies event to line up and get ready. Jinhee pouted and reluctantly separated herself from her sworn protector. Nari’s legs tingled from getting sensation back in them, but she didn't say anything and hid her grimace until the girls weren't quite looking at her. Nari flexed and shook out her leg quickly while she had a chance and jogged weakly over to where the runners were gathering.

“Today's superhero and Dream Man!” The MC grinned as the intro of her short interview. “What happened before, though terrifying, was so cool. We’re all so glad you were here to save the day and show us something as cool as from a movie. Do you think you'll do well in this event? You're incredibly strong, but are you fast?”

“I have a couple trophies from my track days.” She nodded. “I believe that I will do well.”

“I hope you do well, Dream Man.”

“I'll do my best.” She bowed once more and nodded. She was nothing if not proper and respectful. She listened politely as everyone answered the MC’s questions and laughed at the jokes. One competitor stated something along the lines of ‘I may not be as strong as Nari, but I think I might be faster. I will win.’ Nari just smiled and nodded encouragingly.

The race started with no issue, and as if by pure muscle memory, Nari had a perfect start. She actually intended to hold back a lot and just do enough to win to conserve energy. And she did. She didn’t run as fast as she could. But… She ended up winning with a time of 9.02, shocking everyone in the stadium. She even swiftly maneuvered in such a way that she swerved away from hitting the wall and ran around it to make it to Jinhee, laughing.

“I told you I’d run to you.” Nari smirked.

“You did!” Jinhee beamed.

Nari winked and ran back to do the accustomed interview at the end of the race.

“You ran really fast!” They explained at her.

“I did!” Nari grinned. “I’m glad I still have it in me. I haven’t sprinted in truth in a long time to be honest.”

“But you knew you could run that fast?”

“I did.”

“So our Dream Man is strong AND fast. Oh, how will the rest of us stand a chance?”

“Height?” Nari joked.

Nari waited with the others for the Final round.

She was in the same lane as before, and Jinhee, as well as the other girls, were waiting at the same place.

“So, you’re the favorite to win. Do you think you’ll win?”

“I hope I win.”

“Safe answer. If you win, what would you do for your fans?”

“I… Do you mind if I ask them what they’d want really quickly?”

“Go ahead.”

Nari jogged over to the group of Canary fans. “If I win, what do you want me to do? Please be reasonable.” She laughed as an afterthought.

“Sing!” “Dance!” “Rap!” “Sing Boy In Luv!”

“Did you just say Boy In Luv?!” Nari was flabbergasted. “Why?”

“We want you to ask us to call you Oppa!”

“But we’re not even on the same team!” Nari protested. “Why not a song from one of the groups on our team? Monsta X Hero?”

“Would you do the shirt lift dance?”

“Of course.”

“Can you do both?”

“I don’t want to.” She sighed. “That would be too much, too greedy.”

“Dude, this is a chance to see her abs. We know she has abs! Let’s see them!” They began yelling amongst themselves until they finally came to the conclusion that they wanted Monsta X’s Hero. Nari nodded and ran back to the event.

“Did they decide?” The MC had moved on while she was away, but returned to her at the end.

“They want me to sing and dance Monsta X’s Hero.” She laughed.

“Why?”

“They want to see my abs.”

“Do you have abs?”

“I do.”

“Can I have a peek to confirm whether or not this winning act is worth it or not?”

“If you just want to see my abs, you can just say so.” Nari snorted.

“I want to see, but hide it from the camera so the fans have something to look forward to.” He explained. Nari obliged and let him and incidentally the runner next to her see her abs. Their eyes bulged out of their heads at the sight, “That’s amazing. Such abs on a female idol is rare. No wonder you are the Dream Man.”

Nari snorted. “Thank you.”

And with that, the race began. With another perfect start and run, Nari won. 8.99 seconds. A solid 0.32 seconds between her and the second place winner. She stood in front of the camera with her group members and accepted the medal surrounded by her closest friends.

“Thank you! I’m happy to have done well today! I hope to continue to do better in these competitions as I haven’t shown everything I have to offer just yet.” She bowed fully before springing back up to sing and dance Monsta X’s Hero. “And also, since our fans seemed to REALLY want this,” She proceeded to sing the opening lines of Boy In Luv. The resulting cheers were deafening. “Thank you!” The girls all bowed together.

The boys’ 60m event was a lot closer and more nerve wracking to watch. They cheered their team members on the best they could. In the end, two of their team members, Snuper’s Woosung and Monsta X’s Jooheon, placed second and third behind the formidable BtoB Minhyuk.

“Could you beat him?” Shinji asked Nari quietly.

“If the circumstances were right, yeah.”

“What’s your fastest record?”

“7.3 seconds is my fastest official record.”

“But what’s the fastest ever for you?”

“Probably just under 7 seconds. But it’s been a really long time, and I didn’t like being at all the competitions, so I stopped doing it and conditioning for that kind of running. I doubt I’m still even close to being that fast.”

“I think you’re still that fast.” Jinhee yawned.

“Sleepy?”

“A little.”

“You had a rough time.” Nari smiled warmly down at her. “Go ahead and use my leg as your pillow. I won’t move.” Nari ran her fingers through Jinhee’s hair and draped her jacket over the younger girl’s body.

“He’s been staring at you this entire time.” Areum whispered directly into Nari’s ear.

Nari knew who the visual and vocalist of the group was talking about. Nari was being particularly observant to make sure all of the girls were doing alright, and that meant keeping her eyes wide open and in constant vigilance. You notice other things when you keep your head on a swivel to check your surroundings like that. “I know. He’s studying me. Apparently he wants to learn how to be manly.”

“Is that what they’re calling it these days?”

“What?”

“He thinks you’re hot. I’m very familiar with the way he’s looking at you.” Areum rolled her eyes. “Sure, most of the time he’s looking at you with awe and respect, but sometimes it’s awe and attraction.”

“You’re being ridiculous. He’s trying to prepare himself for his role in Hwarang, and it’s no secret that I’m manly.”

“I never said you weren’t masculine. I’m saying that he thinks that you’re also as hot as you are a badass.”

“Hush.” Nari snorted. “You’re just seeing what you want to see. You girls always found it so weird I didn’t have wistful imaginations about a love life, so you’re trying to make one up for me now.”

“Well, what do you think about him?”

“I think he’s nice and, quite frankly, very funny.”

“Do you think he’s hot?”

Nari sighed with her whole body. “I think he’s attractive, as is literally everyone else in this room.”

“Mark my words, Ha Nari, he likes you.”

Shinji piped in just then. “Heads up, the guy you’re talking about is coming over.”

Areum didn’t even hide her sly smirk as Taehyung dragged Jimin and Jungkook to come sit with them.

“Do you remember me?” Nari asked Jungkook when they sat down.

“You know each other?” They were all surprised.

“I used to go to the Taekwondo class she was in when I was younger. She was already a 1st dan by the time I had stopped.” Jungkook answered nervously. “And how could I forget you? Everyone was so sure you were going to the Olympics.”

“Me too.” Nari sighed. “Until I tore my ACL. That put me out of the bid, and for one of my physical therapy treatments, for my body and spirit which was admittedly pretty down, I took up some dance classes and loved it. A lot. I actually thought about you when I first realized that I might like dancing more than I liked Taekwondo.”

Areum took note of how Taehyung’s eyebrow twitched and furrowed slightly before smoothing out again.

“Really?” Jungkook was amused by that, glancing at Taehyung as well with Jimin.

“Yeah. I remembered how you dropped Taekwondo to focus on dancing. I thought you had been so promising and definitely competitive enough to do something with your training, so I was a little disappointed when you stopped coming to class. But after I found my happiness again in dancing, I understood you. And then I saw your debut! I was so proud in some strange way and it made me decide to take dancing more seriously and audition as well. Thank you.”

“Oh, I didn’t do anything…”

“On the contrary.”

“How old are you?” Taehyung asked, cutting into the conversation.

“22, like you.”

“Ah, so we’re friends then.” Taehyung beamed. “I’m dropping formalities!”

“Okay.” Nari grinned, also dropping formalities.

“So how did you get to be so cool? Who did you learn from? Who are your role models?”

“I don’t think I’m even half as cool as you seem to think I am.” Nari laughed. “But most of who I am stems from strict martial arts training. My grandfather had the most to do with my upbringing considering he was my Taekwondo coach, and I was almost always training with him. He taught me very early on that I am who I am, and people are who they are. We should all respect each other on and off the mat, no matter what. My aunt told me that my dad had some rough experiences when he went to the Olympics for Taekwondo in 88, and since it looked like I was on my way to the Olympics as well, my grandfather wanted to train respect and strong-mindedness into me. My dad quit Taekwondo after the incident, but luckily he still supported me in my endeavors.” Nari explained honestly.

“So your coolness and endless respect and mannerisms are from your grandpa?”

“Yeah. He taught me to be gentle to others because a fist that can hurt should also be a hand that shows love.”

“Speaking of love, what’s your experience with that?” Taehyung asked so bluntly his friends hit him to admonish him for being so crass and even the idols nearby couldn’t pretend they weren’t eavesdropping. Nari hid behind her hand so she wouldn’t laugh so loudly that she woke up Jinhee. The girls had just blinked at him in shock.

Areum recovered the fastest. “That’s amazing. You just ask questions so brazenly.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I was rude.” Taehyung frowned down at himself.

“It’s fine. I’m very used to it to be honest with you. I was a Taekwondo instructor and my students always loved to ask me questions about everything. I don’t mind, really.” Nari smiled encouragingly at him. “And I don’t get why my past should be a secret. It’ll all come out eventually. I dated once, it didn’t end very well. He was an older guy, also in my Taekwondo class, but a couple ranks below me -- which was pretty normal because I’d been training seriously every day since I was 3 unlike most people. We dated for about three months before he broke it off because he was tired of getting teased for dating someone manlier than him.”

“No way.”

“Yes way.”

“But you’re so cool.”

“Thanks.”

“I’m sorry you had to deal with that. I promise you not all guys are like him! You’re not manly, you’re just super cool!”

“You’re using me as a guide to being manly.”

“I’m using you as a guide to being cool and tough.” He whined.

“Sure, whatever you say.”

“I mean it! Not all guys are like him and the guys who . You’re super awesome!”

“Hear that, Nari? He thinks you’re super awesome.” Areum smirked while taking a sip of her water.

“Yeah, thanks Lee Areum. I am actually quite fluent in the Korean language, but I appreciate your concern and desire to help. There’s also only a few months between our ages so I’m not so old that I need you to be my hearing aid. Nice efforts though.”

Shinji smirked at their antics from the side.

“What? I’m just trying to show my ‘super awesome’ leader my respect and reaffirm great things about her.” Areum snickered.

“I know. I said thank you.” Nari nodded before turning her attention back to Taehyung. “Thank you. I know not all guys are like that and don’t all dislike my ‘super awesome-ness’. I’m not worried. I don’t really have the time to be. We’re not popular like you guys, but we’re still pretty busy so even thinking of dating is exhausting.”

Saera sat down with her arms full of snack for the girls. “For a Scorpio, you really lack the passion of love.”

“I’m passionate about what I’m passionate about. Currently, it’s work.”

“That’s true.” Saera nodded and tossed her a bag of chips, heeding Nari’s order to save Jinhee’s favorite snack for when she wakes up.

“Scorpio, that’s the western zodiac right?” The boys perked up out of curiosity.

“Yeah. It’s my obsession.” Saera grinned. “I’m no good at knowing eastern zodiac, but I love the western ones.”

“Saera grew up in the states.” Nari explained.

“Oh, do you know what mine is? It’s by birth month, right?” Taehyung leaned forward excitedly.

“Kind of, there are specific date brackets.” Saera nodded. “When’s your birthday?”

“December 30th.”

“Capricorn. You’re a leader type, but you won’t really pick up that mantle till later on when you’ve matured more fully.” Saera stated sagely. “A mixture of cool and aloof, plus extremely loyal and caring. Oh! Your most compatible sign is Scorpio.” She pointed at Nari.

“Oh really? In what ways are we compatible?” He leaned forward, intrigued.

“Honestly, pretty much in every way, except you’re both usually the dominant one in relationships so sometimes there’s a power struggle between the two. But, you’re both very loyal, committed, family-oriented, careful with money, and generally good together. Capricorn needs someone with connections to their emotions while Scorpio needs someone down to earth to keep them in check in a way.”

“She doesn’t seem like the type to need to keep her emotions in check.” Jimin commented about Nari.

“Doesn’t she? Didn’t you see that she was extremely upset and passionate about how things had gone when the MC made her participate in the men’s ssireum to make fun of the guys in our team? She’s patient with us, but don’t be fooled. She’s a firecracker. Scorpios are all about intensity and extremes. Isn’t that Nari?”

“That somehow doesn’t sound like a compliment.” Nari sighed.

“I’m a taurus. We’re opposites.” Saera grinned. “But if you want compliments, your passion about life is awe-inspiring. Plus, it’s a known fact to anyone who knows anything about western zodiac that scorpios are the iest of all zodiacs. Scorpios just have a magnetism about them and they just radiate appeal.”

“Yes, because that totally describes me. Hulking muscles and manly mannerisms. So y.” Nari rolled her eyes and turned away from the main rapper and nearly startled at seeing Taehyung staring at her.

He was letting his eyes travel all over her body with a look that wasn’t entirely merely curious. There was a darkness in his eyes, but not malicious in nature. There were hints of appraisal in the look, and his hands twitched like he was going to raise a hand and reach for her. His eyes darted back up and met with hers, almost comically wide at being caught checking her out. Nari flushed and looked down at her lap, busying herself with petting Jinhee’s hair once more.

“Oh, super awesome.” Areum winked at Nari.

“Super obvious is more like it.” Jimin mumbled under his breath to Jungkook.

They weren’t the only ones who noticed the heavy looks Taehyung had sent her way. Other idols around them had taken to staring curiously at them openly now. No one quite knew what to say or what subject to change it to, if they wanted to change it at this point since there was no hiding what had just happened anyway.

A staff member interrupted the moment for them to inform everyone that those who were participating in the archery event should warm up and head to the next gymnasium for the event.

“Jinhee-yah. Wake up. It’s time for archery.”

“I don’t wanna.” Jinhee whined and buried her face into Nari’s stomach.

Nari laughed and squirmed away slightly. “You have to.” Jinhee continued to bury her face further into Nari’s stomach. “Stop, that tickles.” Nari slid a hand between her stomach and Jinhee’s face. “We have your favorite snacks. Wake up and you can eat them as we head over to the archery event, okay?”

Jinhee perked up at that. “You really have them? This isn’t Shinji lying to me to get me out of bed again?”

“I wouldn’t lie to you.”

Jinhee rolled away and sat up. “Snack.”

Saera tossed the back of chips over Jinhee’s head. Nari reached up and caught it easily. “Here. Now let’s go.”

“Carry me.”

Nari chuckled, “Piggy back or princess style?”

“Princess.”

“You spoil her.” Shinji sneered when she saw Nari carrying Jinhee over to them.

“She carries all of us like this.” Jinhee defended herself.

“It’s fine. Let’s just go.” Nari nudged Shinji forward with her foot. “I need help opening doors.”

They all went to support Soohae, Jinhee, and Areum in the archery event, even though they weren’t going to win. They weren’t terrible, but they lacked consistency and practice, no matter all of the advice Nari had given them. They lost in the first round to Mamamoo by two points. Areum even managed a 10 and Jinhee was so happy to get a 9 she almost ran to Nari to cry out of joy. After the loss, the girls went to chat with their fans in between the rounds so as to not deter from the competitors’ focus.

“Are you guys having fun?” Areum grinned.

“A lot of fun!” They screamed back.

“Are you guys okay?” A fan asked. “We were so scared for Nari and Jinhee! It’s a good thing our leader is a capable one.”

“The Canary guard dog must do its job.” Nari smiled. “As long as I’m there, the girls will be fine.”

“I’m okay. Nari protects me.” Jinhee piped up shyly.

“Who are your friends here?” A fan asked.

“I’m friends with Tzuyu and the rest of Twice, as well as Jackson to an extent. I think I actually just became friends with Taehyung from BTS. He helped me save Jinhee, and we seem to get along well enough.”

“You should talk to Jin! You’re tough and masculine while he’s pretty and feminine. Fans call him the Pink Princess. Total opposites. It’ll be so cute!”

“Our Prince with the Pink Princess?” Hwayun rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “That’d be so cute.”

“I don’t know, I think Taehyung is very pretty and delicate looking too.” Areum slung a smug arm around Nari’s shoulders. “Plus they’re the same age, so they speak to each other fairly comfortably.”

“She, as you would call it, ships us.” Nari rolled her eyes.

“Kim Taehyung-nim!!!!!” Her fans started calling out to him, who had come to support his own team members in the co-ed archery competition. He peered over at them curiously before noticing Nari and coming over in a light jog.

“How can I help you?”

“Wah, he really is pretty.” “He’s really tall too.” “That coupling would be kinda cute.” “He’s pretty and playful while she’s masculine and stoic. It’s cute.” “I ship it.”

“What’s going on?” Taehyung asked Nari.

“I think they’re debating whether or not they ship us in front of us.” Nari was amused.

“Huh, fascinating.” He was also amused. “But this is the first day we’ve ever met.”

“All relationships start somewhere!” A fan defended.

“This is true.” Nari laughed. “Okay, ship what you want. I don’t mind.”

“Same.” He grinned. “It’s an honor to be shipped with someone as awesome as Canary’s leader.”

“It’s an honor to be shipped with you as well.” Nary nodded solemnly. “You should go back and support your teammates.”

“You’re right! I gotta go! Good talk!” He sprinted off.

The relay was the last event of the day with basketball following up the next day. The girls’ were before the boys’ event. Nari, Hwayun, Shinji, and Saera all stretched carefully. The three other girls were nervous. They were okay runners, but not the best, and not good enough to win.

“I’m sorry if I do really badly. I’ll try my best.” Hwayun grimaced.

“I’ll do my best, but I don’t think that’ll make a difference.” Saera sighed.

“I’ve never been very fast, but I’m gonna give it a shot.” Shinji shrugged. “Sorry we’re probably gonna lose this one.”

“Just leave it to me. I’m the leader.” Nari shook her head at the girls and assured them with a bright smile. “I got this. We’re here as a team, and teams support each other and help cover each other where one may be found lacking. Don’t worry.”

Nari was the last runner for their team, so she watched the other three run as fast as they could. They weren’t very fast, barely keeping up with the other girls. Shinji, the third and slowest runner, lost a significant amount of ground. The look of defeat on her face when she handed the baton over to Nari propelled Nari forward at such an intense speed that she was a little surprised she hadn’t lost her footing. She kept increasing her speed until she not only caught up with the other girls, but narrowly beat them at the last second. The crowd was deafening as they watched Idol Championship history be made.

It was such a close race that they had to watch the replay to be sure, but Nari won by the skin of her teeth.

The girls tackled her out of pride and excitement. “I told you guys not to worry.” Nari laughed.

And that was how Canary made their mark in their first Championships. Their team won, with her being MVP with 3 gold medals to her. Behind Tzuyu cheering her on happily as a friend, Taehyung was beaming at her with his group. They waved excitedly at each other.

When they were leaving to head to the van, Shinji sent the other girls ahead of them so she could talk to Nari privately in a secluded hallway. “Lift up your shirt.”

Taehyung had rushed to follow them out and try to get her number in a spike of confidence. He nearly skidded to a stop at the words he heard and hid around the corner in shock.

“That’s mighty forward of you.” Nari laughed. “Can’t even buy me a drink first?”

“Show me your ribs.”

“I don’t wanna.”

“You’re hurt, aren’t you?”

“I’m fine. I ran my events perfectly fine. You’re just being overprotective.”

“If that’s true, then you, who never cares if you’re just in your bra or not because you’re so used to changing in front of people, should show me your ribs. Unless you’ve got an injury you’re hiding from me.”

Nari sighed in resignation before lifting the side of her shirt up. Taehyung heard Shinji hiss through her teeth. Nari was quick to reassure the older girl, “It’s not as bad as it looks.”

“I knew you weren’t being ticklish yesterday. Jinhee was just incidentally poking her face into this giant bruise on your side. And I knew you could’ve run faster than that in the 60 meter. Why didn’t you say something?”

“Because it’s fine. I’ve had worse. This doesn’t even hurt that much.”

“But you still got hurt --”

“And? You want me to tell Jinhee that? She’s already working on getting over the fact that she was almost abducted right in front of our eyes. You want me to make her feel worse by knowing I got hurt protecting her?”

“You need to go to the hospital.”

“I’ve been kicked harder and much worse. I just need to wrap up my waist and massage it regularly with some ointment. My brothers are way rougher with me. This is really nothing. Don’t worry. It’s just a bruise. I’ll let it rest.”

Taehyung listened to some more resigned grumbles from their team mom as their footsteps trickled off.

She couldn’t let it rest, not with the major influx of schedules headed her way when news broke on everything that Nari accomplished or did in the Championship games. She was barely able to sleep between shoots. Luckily her gentle and stoic image saved her from needing to move too much. They asked to see her moves and techniques, but mostly they just wanted to see and hear for themselves how peculiar her mannerisms and behavior was. She wasn’t very bothered by any of it since it got the group more attention.

“We managed to nab a spot in the CEO is Watching.” Nari grinned at her band members later that month.

“Seriously?!”

“Yeah, another girl group dropped out because of a scheduling conflict. We don’t have much time. We need to send in a video of a fun performance that we could do, like a cover or something by tomorrow. They need to see all of the videos and pick which groups get to perform.”

“That’s too short of a time!”

“Oh, I have a couple videos of us playing around. It’s a bunch of competitions. With Nari, we’ve got the physical advantage. With Shinji, we’ve got the voice. With Hwayun, the dance. Areum, the looks. Soohae and Jinhee is our cute image. With me, the brains.” Saera grinned smugly. “We don’t need to win that portion. We’ll have plenty of air time with just us being us.”

Nari frowned, “We can’t just… not try hard in that. We must try hard in everything.”

“I like your earnest ways, because it’s truly admirable and makes you who you are, but we’re too short on time.” Shinji sighed. “To actually spend all night to prepare a performance we aren’t even guaranteed to actually perform is just dumb. We, especially you, have been so busy since the Championships and the number of events we’ve done in the past week alone is daunting, and if we add in all of the shows you’ve done solo or with just one of us, it’s just impossible. You need to stop and breathe. I don’t care if you’re a human machine, we’re just gonna send in one of the videos of us playing around and be done with it. We’ve got other things we need to get done.”

“Okay.” Nari sighed in resignation. “Saera, just send in a video.”

“Great. Let’s back to it. I need to hear how you guys sound on this track so I can adjust the song accordingly.” Shinji gestured for the girls to get back in the mindset of being in the recording studio.

Three days later found them wearing sweaters and jeans. They were seated in the bottom left corner, barely in most of the shots, but right next to Monsta X. Though they weren’t close friends, the two groups got along well enough to at least not be awkward. Plus, Areum and Hwayun made friends with literally everyone around them because that’s just who they were. She looked up and saw Taehyung already looking down at their group, waving brightly at her. She grinned and waved back.

“They watch you like you’re some kind of zoo animal.” Soohae pouted, curling into Nari’s side.

“You get used to it.”

“But it’s like they think there’s something wrong with you.”

“It’s because I don’t fit into what they think I should be. That’s just how it is.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re just… like a mom.”

“A mom?”

Jinhee, who’d been lying with her head on Nari’s lap this whole time, piped up. “A mom is safe and warm. You’re nice to us and treat us with all the love in your heart. But you also have strong arms to carry us and protect us. A mom.”

“I thought Shinji was the mom and I was the dad.”

“She’s just softer and calmer than you.”

“I swear, that’s how I always find you. At least one of the girls is always using you as a pillow.” Monsta X’s Minhyuk grinned at them.

“The maknaes feel the safest with her.” Areum giggled. “Like two baby bunnies having found a protector in a wolf.”

“And what animal are you?” Nari smirked.

“A deer.” She blinked her trademark doe eyes at the leader.

“Of course. I should’ve guessed.”

“Saera’s a fox. Hwayun is a butterfly. And Shinji, of course, is a lioness.”

“What a ragtag bunch we are.” Nari snorted.

“You two protect and guide us, Saera is our sly brains, Hwayun and I explore and are friendly enough, and we all shower our little bunnies with love.” Areum petted Soohae’s hair affectionately. “But somehow, when we’re all together, we become little songbirds.”

“6 songbirds singing with a howling guard dog.” Jinhee giggled.

Nari poked her cheek. “Rude.”

“You’ve been improving.” Shinji sat down near Areum, handing them bottles of water. “You weren’t even bad before. You’re just not as good as the rest of us. With enough practice, you will be. Don’t worry.”

“You guys have been reading comments about me again, haven’t you?” Nari smiled at them all wryly. “Don’t worry about what people say about me or my lack of talent. I’m fine. I know I have things I need to improve on, and I fully intend to. I was born with reflexes, speed, and an aptitude, but that only takes a person so far. I trained for years to earn a black belt. I’ll train even harder to earn my spot in this group. Stop reading comments.”

“They just don’t know you.” Areum huffed. “They think they know everything about us, but they don’t. They don’t get it.”

“And it’s fine.” Nari cooed. “No use getting mad over it. I’m not.”

“How would you feel if you read the kind of comments they make about you but for one of us?”

“I’m the guard dog. You guys aren’t guard birds. It’s my life’s goal to make sure you’re all happy and healthy.”

“And we care about you too, so we’re gonna get mad at the Netizens.” Shinji rolled her eyes.

“Fine. Get mad. Just stop trying to give me pep talks about my singing. It’s awkward. I don’t like it.”

When it came time for the show to start recording, she made the maknaes sit up properly. Saera barely made it back from the bathroom in time to slide into her seat. They clapped eagerly as they saw every ‘CEO’ come out and introduce themselves. Even their CEO appeared himself, and when he was prompted to do a little of their dance, he failed fantastically.

“It’s okay. We’re more of a vocal group anyway!” Saera guffawed.

“A vocal group? With three of some of the best dancers I’ve ever seen? Sure.” He snorted.

“So, you’re a smaller company, usually more focused in music production than idol singers. Canary is your first idol group. How is it like?”

“I let them do what they want.” He answered honestly. They asked him to please elaborate. “They write their own music, choreograph themselves, present their ideas for concepts and budgeting plans for outfits and props, and usually just keep track of themselves. Their managers are just in charge of helping Nari do what she doesn’t have time to or can’t for the group and drive them from place to place. They’re all smart and skilled in different aspects; they really make a great team. I don’t have to do much except provide them with resources. I let them decide what shows to do, what music to make, and how much practice to have. They’d know best what is their limit and will stop to heal when they need to.”

“You really just let them do whatever they want?”

“I give them advice and make suggestions based on my experience or what I’ve come to know. But they do it all themselves.”

“And if they just decide to go out and party?”

“Then that’s what they do. Their success is dependant on them. What they’ve created is all them. They got popular off Nari’s image, but that’s just her being herself. If they want to not put the work in, then they won’t. None of them party anyway. I know they’ve been out a couple times with some friends and family, but they’re all workaholics.”

“You trust them a lot.”

"They’re smart and responsible. And the kids all model themselves after the two oldest, Shinji and Nari. The world would be a much better place if everyone did that, honestly.”

“Such a beautiful relationship between CEO and idols. Thank you.”

That went on until every CEO was seated.

The first competition was the strength competition. The host looked at Nari and started to laugh. “Is there a single person here who can beat Canary’s leader, Nari?” No one answered. “Please go easy on them.” He jokingly requested of Nari. She just grinned in good nature.

The first event was men’s ssireum. Nari tried to give Shownu advice before he stepped on the mat, but there was only so much knowledge she could verbally impart on him in such a short amount of time. Canary cheered everyone on enthusiastically, no matter the group. Seventeen’s S.Coups eventually won, and Nari was actually really happy for him. They weren’t close, but they were the same age and got along well.

“I’m actually really curious about what it’s like to go up against Nari.” S.Coups grinned hopefully at her.

“How about it? Leader to leader?” The host looked at her expectantly.

“Okay. That’s a fair challenge.” Nari nodded and stood up, shaking out her muscles. “I won’t go easy on you just because you had a couple matches and might be a little tired.”

“W-watch out for your legs.” Jungkook said to S.Coups. He turned to the younger idol in surprise. “She says she won’t go easy, but she will. When she goes easy, she goes for the trips instead of just throwing you. She’s trying to be gentle in that way. Avoid her feet for as long as possible. You’ll still lose, but you’ll put up a fight.”

“And why do you know so much about how she wrestles?” The host asked Jungkook, with the air of a predator having caught wind of its next prey.

“I was his Taekwondo instructor back in the day.” Nari answered for him while tying the towel around her waist and thighs properly.

“No way!”

“Her grandfather owned the dojo. He had her teach our age group because she was already really skilled, and he thought a closer age group would be more beneficial. Plus, Nari was so good that everyone was impressed with her and always asked her for help anyway.” Jungkook shuffled around awkwardly.

“What’s this? Why are you acting like this? You seem scared of her.”

“She was really scary.”

“One of the lessons was teaching them how to fall, land when getting thrown, and taking hits.” Nari smiled sheepishly.

“Oh, then I’m really impressed you’re still alive, Jungkook.” The host clapped the idol on the back.

“I am too.” He grimaced and moved out of the way.

Nari stepped onto the mat lightly. “I always feel like these are too soft.” She sighed. “At least they guarantee no concussions.”

“Are you regretting your decision yet?” The host smirked at S.Coups.

He laughed nervously. “Oh, I regretted it the moment she stood up and shook out her muscles. She’s smaller than me, but she’s scarier than I thought.”

“Don’t worry. I promise not to actually hurt you.” Nari chuckled. “Now let’s get to it. We’ve got other segments of this show.” She knelt down at the center of the mat. He mirrored her.

When they stood up together, both gripping onto the ties, S.Coups groaned. “This was a really bad idea. She’s a wall of a person.”

He avoided her legs as he was advised, but he was just barely able to do so, and that was with her obviously going easy on him.

“You’re doing well.” Nari nodded into his shoulder. “It’s no wonder you won.”

“You’re not even trying.” He grunted, trying to push back at her for the umpteenth time. “You really are a wall.” He pushed again.

“One of my brothers is a boxer and another one is an MMA fighter. I had to learn how to defend myself from their antics growing up.” She grinned. “It’s time to finish this, but I admire your tenacity.”

She twisted them up just forcefully enough and pushed him back. Her foot darted out and tripped him smoothly before he even realized she finished talking. She let him drop to the mat softly.

“You seriously did really well.” She grinned encouragingly down at him.

He looked up at her, dazed. “Thanks?”

“Come on, let’s get you up.” She lifted him up easily. “Are you okay? How are you feeling? Do you need some water?”

“It all happened so fast…”

“Alright, let’s get you seated.” She laughed and guided him to his band members at the edge of the mat. “He might be a little lightheaded for a while, but he’ll be fine.”

“Will it even be fair for you to be in the women’s competition? I’m assuming you’re the representative of strength for your group.” The host laughed.

“I am, but I do go very easy on people.” She shrugged. “Should I just leave this on?” She gestured to the red tie around her waist and thigh.

“Might as well.”

Nari cheered the other girls on, and it was really just a repeat of the Championships earlier that month. She won without much issue. She was gentle with everyone and was as polite as she could be. EXID’s Hyeri actually said ‘I get why she has so many female fans. My heart has been shaken by her’ causing Nari to blush and everyone to laugh at them.

“The results were as expected. Everyone’s Dream Man won the female ssireum competition.” The host teased Nari. “I think you could’ve even taken on Yoon Eunhye from back in the day when she was the only competitor for Kang Hodong in XMan.”

“I really enjoyed watching that back when I was a kid.” Nari nodded. “I don’t think I would’ve won, but I appreciate the thought.”

The next segment was the brain competition. Saera did okay, but she didn’t win. She did, however, make friends with Namjoon who was next to her. She sometimes needed clarification on a question -- her Korean was great, but sometimes she was uncertain if she understood something properly, so she’d ask Namjoon to be sure. Though there were two years between them, she was more mature than she usually let on, and thus made her easier to talk to and joke with than Namjoon had originally thought. He felt a kindred spirit in her. She made it to the top 5 before dropping out. She wished him luck before returning to her seat.

“First, Nari with V and Jungkook. Now you with Rap Monster. Should we all make friends with BTS?” Shinji snorted.

“They’re quite nice. I don’t see why not.” Nari smirked.

Namjoon ended up winning, though it was a long battle between him and Hani before he was finally victorious.

Much to their chagrin, Canary was one of the groups chosen to perform. Kinda.

“So, our performances were all chosen and shown, but our staff decided to have one more group perform because they were just so impressive even though they weren’t funny like the others.” The host grinned. “And if what they’re saying is true, then seeing this group perform this in person will be something to behold.” He continued. “Canary, a vocalist group, sent in an impressive video of their dance line, so impressive that the staff could not stop talking about it.”

“What video did you send in?” They all whipped their heads to look at Saera in horror.

“I… sent in our choreography for Ring The Alarm.”

Their vocalists immediately started to laughed, “Literally the hardest choreography you guys have ever done!”

“Saera!”

“We didn’t have time to prepare anything else, and you told me we should still try our best. I figured sending in one of our best works is still trying our best. Do you guys still remember how it goes?”

“Yeah. Not that I ever wanted to do it again.” Hwayun grumbled.

“I have the hardest parts. Don’t complain.” Nari sighed.

“Canary? Are you guys ready to show us the performance in person?”

“Yeah, hold on. I need to secure my hair.” Nari stood up and redid her ponytail to make it tighter. Hwayun stood to tie her hair up as well. Saera’s hair was short enough to not be a huge issue. “Dress down.” Nari commanded of the others in dance line. They took off their jewelry and took out anything they had in their pockets. All three began to stretch seriously before making their way to center stage.

The moment the song started, they were in the zone and hit the moves with precision that they had cried, sweat, and bled to perfect. The dance was fast and the moves had to be hit hard with as much power as they had. Their formation points were perfect and it emphasized all of their best skills cohesively. People were cheering them on excitedly, shocked by what they were doing. After all, it was uncommon for a girl group to step and krump and fouette in the same routine. When Nari hit the butterfly twist to a 720 kick, well, no one could stay seated at that. As if the rest of the choreography wasn’t impressive enough.

The three just dropped on their asses at the end of it, breathing heavily and sweating profusely.

“That was more amazing than I thought it would be.” The host said after the applause died down.

“It was just as exhausting as I’d remembered it was.” Nari panted out.

“Of all of our videos, you send in that one?” Hwayun grunted at Saera.

“It was between this one and Nari singing Daddy.”

“She never… oh my god. You can’t show people that one.” Hwayun tried to laugh, but ended up coughing instead.

“We should make a rule against recording each other if we’re drunk.” Nari grimaced.

“You sang Daddy when you were drunk?” The host latched onto this like no other.

“She even danced on a table.” Saera snickered.

“It’d be great if you could show us some of that?”

Nari laughed breathlessly. “This is not looking good for my gentleman image.”

“You’re the Dream Man. A lot of people have dream guys who dance goofily and can have fun.” Saera grinned.

“Maybe.” Nari snorted. She groaned while stretching out her leg muscles.

“You were supposed to just do a butterfly kick into a 540. You went all out and did a butterfly twist into 720.”

“I regretted it the moment I landed it.” She nodded. “But the applause spurred me on to do more.”

“Show off.”

Nari replied with a laugh while rolling over onto her hands and knees. “Let’s get up.” She was unsteady on her feet, but she helped the other girls get up too. They dropped a little too heavily into their seats.

“I don’t think I’ve ever thought I’d see anyone, let alone a girl group perform like that.” The host clapped appreciatively at what he’d just witnessed.

Their CEO spoke into the mic, smirking, “And they try to say they’re a vocal group. Dancing like that? No.”

“Almost, on 3.” Shinji counted the girls in without any other cues or explanation. She led the cover of Tamia’s Almost with a subtle harmonization from Jinhee and Soohae in the first line. All seven girls harmonized at ‘how could my mind’ even though three were exhausted. “Vocal group.” She said as an explanation to their CEO. “They’re just also good at dancing and rapping.”

For the luck segment, they were going to send in Jinhee, but when they heard that it was to withstand the possibility of having a water balloon popped over their head, Nari saw that she was anxious, more than she already was. Nari stepped up to the challenge. “After all, I care the least if my hair and makeup gets messed up. Don’t worry and just let me handle it.” Nari ruffled Jinhee’s hair before going forward. Their CEO managed to find a real chair which led them to the point of participating in the luck segment.

Her first opponent was Twice’s Mina.

“You don’t look nervous at all!” Bora commented.

“If I get splashed, I get splashed. I believe I’ve used up all my luck in life getting to this point with great people and a happy and healthy family anyway.” Nari shrugged. “I’d rather get splashed than Mina. Her hair looks so pretty. I’ve already sweat so much.” She laughed, pushing back her sweaty bangs.

“Amazing! You truly are kind and a great sport. Dream Man indeed. What number are you thinking of pushing?”

“I don’t know. I was just gonna throw my hand down and see what happened.”

“Interesting tactic!”

And she did just that. She threw down her hand and hit the 2 button. Somehow she was safe. As was Mina. She hit the 1 this time, and again was safe. Mina was not so lucky. Nari bowed apologetically to the other girl. Her second opponent was Jin.

“I’m worried. She really has luck on her side. She’s not even looking!” Jin groaned.

He had nothing to be worried about. She hit the 1 and was splashed with rather cold water. She shook out her head and wiped her face with a towel someone stuck into her hand. “Thank god I don’t wear much makeup. I’d be a mess.” She flashed a grin over at Jin.

“You still look very pretty.” Jin grinned back.

“Thanks, you look very pretty too.”

“Don’t you mean ‘handsome’?” They laughed at what they thought was her mistake.

“No, I meant pretty.” She winked at Jin.

“Aren’t you a forward little thing?” He scoffed.

“You don’t agree? You don’t think you’re pretty?”

“I didn’t say that. I don’t think I’m pretty. I know I’m pretty.” He flicked imaginary hair over his shoulder.

“It was a pleasure to lose to you, fairest of them all.” Nari laughed and returned to her seat.

The girls helped Nari dry off her hair, but she wasn’t too concerned about how she looked. They all cheered on the rest of the competition and had a great time relaxing together.

Right before they could go into the last segment, the writers called the hosts over for a quick meeting. The hosts came back, amused and slightly mischievous.

“It’s time for couples challenges. I know we’ve been putting you all up against each other, but now it’s time to create a more bonding experience.” Bora grinned.

“It’s… Let’s be honest, it’s definitely going to partially be a popularity contest.”

“We’re going to pull one half of the couples from the winners of the games. Will today’s winners all come to the center?” Nari had to shake off Areum’s attempts to make her hair look presentable before going back to the stage.

“So what we’re going to do is have a winner stand at the front alone and anyone who wants to pair up with them for the couples game from any of the other idols not on stage or from their own groups can line up behind them.”

“If no one lines up behind the winner, then they must couple up with their CEO.”

“Let’s start with S.Coups. Our first winner of the day!” He ended up paired with a member of GFriend because they debuted not long after each other. Only a couple idols lined up behind him. Nari was the next winner to stand up front. She wasn’t bothered either way. She knew she wasn’t popular with the guys, and she was comfortable enough with their CEO in this setting to play the games regardless.

But then she heard a lot of footsteps approach from behind her and people were staring in shock and awe.

“N-Nari. How many people do you think lined up behind you?”

“I thought no one would line up for me.” Nari chuckled. “But from the way I can hear Areum squeaking to try to hold in her laughter, and the way Hwayun isn’t holding back at all, a lot of female idols lined up behind me, huh?”

“Absolutely right. Please turn around.”

Nari turned around and saw every girl outside of Canary was lined up behind her. “Knew it.”

“With this kind of popularity, why did you think no one would line up behind you?”

“Well, I’m only popular with other girls. Guys don’t like me. And I didn’t think girls liked me enough to line up behind me.”

“The Dream Man sways all the maiden hearts!” Hwayun teased.

“And it’s not just girls. You have one male contender for your heart.” Bora waved the lone male in the back to come forward.

“Kim Taehyung?” Nari was mildly surprised to see him sheepishly come forward.

“Hey.” He grinned shyly. “You don’t have to feel obligated to pick me just because I’m the only boy.”

“I don’t.”

“Wow.” He dead panned.

“Everyone knows I always do my best to not hurt anyone’s feelings, especially a girl’s.”

“I forgot. The Dream Man is a perfect gentleman.” Taehyung sighed.

“Narrow it down to 5 and then they can vie for your attention.” The host told her.

“That seems cruel.” Nari frowned.

“It’ll at least give some of us screen time before you inevitably choose one lucky soul.” Taehyung explained quietly. BTS wasn’t good at variety shows, but he understood people more than she did. That much was clear.

“And if that lucky soul is you?” Nari smirked.

He cheesed at her, “I’m not gonna lie, I’m not gonna be able to keep cool if you choose me, so it might actually be better for my image if you don’t.”

“Hm, he’s the first of my five.” Nari openly laughed at his shocked expression. “Kyungri is my second. Canary all knows she’s the idol I think is the most beautiful.” Kyungri strutted forward and hugged Nari’s side. When the movement of her arm struck Nari as strange, Nari cocked her head to the side and looked at Kyungri questioningly. “If you wanted to touch my abs, you could’ve just said so.” Nari chuckled, lifting the hem of her shirt carelessly.

“I’m never going to have abs as nice as yours.” Taehyung sighed heavily.

“They’ve melted a lot since I stopped training to be an Olympian.” Nair shrugged.

“I’ve never seen abs like that on a girl.” Kyungri gaped at her, touching them lightly.

“They’re pretty common in my family. We’re mostly athletes. Aside from my mom, I’m the smallest. My grandfather and father still maintain their muscles too.”

“Who else do you pick?” The host asked.

Nari looked at her group members for some direction. Shinji shrugged. “Pick someone you like but doesn’t get enough screen time.” She suggested.

Nari nodded and picked AOA’s Yuna, Lovelyz’ Kei, and Laboum’s Soyeon.

“You had to pick a bunch of main and lead vocalists.” Taehyung groaned. “How am I supposed to compete with that?”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something.” Nari laughed. She was serenaded and flirted with, lots of aegyo thrown her way. And then it was Taehyung’s turn. “What have you come up with?”

“I’m no main vocalist, but I can party with you!”

“What?”

“Karaoke. Let’s go!” Taehyung gestured for the music to start. For someone who looked like he was hyping himself up, Big Bang’s A Fool’s Only Tears made people snort out in surprise. He handed her another microphone. He sang, overdramatically acting out the emotions. There was no way the Dream Man was silly enough to participate.

But Nari did without a moment’s hesitation. After the chorus, they both broke into a fit of giggles.

“You remembered. Nice.” Nari grinned. “One of the first conversations we had involved our favorite Big Bang songs.” She explained to the others.

“Yeah. There’s a second song. Hwayun says you sing this when you feel like letting loose.”

“Going to my band members? Isn’t that cheating?”

“I like to think of it as being resourceful.”

“Whatever.” She scoffed.

Block B’s Nilili Mambo played and they sang almost as if they’d done this together before. They jumped around together, trading parts and harmonizing with ease. It was the first time anyone saw Nari not only sing, but switch between singing and rapping easily. The same could be said for Taehyung.

“I think Taehyung should win purely because of the fact that that was the most comfortable I’ve ever seen Nari look on stage. That’s the kind of person she is when she’s not in pro-mode.” Areum and the girls smiled fondly at their leader.

In the end, Nari did choose Taehyung. He made her laugh and have fun, and that was really hard to beat.

The couples game turned out to be a classic. One would carry the other bridal style and steadily do squats as people either fell or gave up.

“Taehyung is gonna die.” Hwayun guffawed.

“Why? I’m doing the carrying.” Nari retorted. “I’m the heaviest girl in the room, but I’m one of the strongest people in the room.”

“Are you sure you can carry me?” Taehyung asked.

“This one time, my mom was arranging flowers on our second floor window sill. My dad was mending the small fence around the garden right below her. A flower pot fell and hit my dad in the head. I carried him, bridal style to his embarrassment when my mom showed him a picture of it, to the car and into the hospital easily. He’s more than 80kg.”

“Whoa. Yeah, you can definitely carry me.”

“How much do you weigh? 61? 62?”

“62.”

“Yeah, I weigh 57.”

“You don’t look that heavy.”

“Muscles. I’m pretty condensed.”

“That makes sense.”

Nari admittedly started to break a sweat while carrying him, but that was normal. 40+ squats while carrying someone else really burns. Taehyung apologetically wiped her sweat away.

“You should’ve partnered up with someone lighter.”

“I’m fine. You're perfect."

He snorted. "Hardly."

"Don't worry about me, just have fun. Can you sing something for me? Distract me?"

He nodded and started humming an Adele song. She let herself go as she listened to his voice. They ended up winning easily and was asked to do a 'couples pose'. Her legs were a bit tired, so he suggested she sit and he cutely pop over her shoulder. She thought that was cute and agreed. She could hear him getting nervous and giggling. She turned to look at him out of curiosity.

"Oh my god, she thinks he's cute." Areum laughed. "Like a baby cute."

"No I don't." Nari whipped her head back around and tried to school her expression.

"Yes you do. That's the face you make when you see animals and babies." Shinji pointed out.

"No it's not." Nari lied.

"It so is." Saera guffawed.

"Shut up. I'm the leader, stop picking on me."

"It's okay to think he's cute. He's very adorable. Why don't you look at him again. Pinch his cheeks and coo at him." Shinji joked.

"You guys are terrible."

"Hey Taehyung! Do aegyo! It's a TKO for her." Areum suggested.

"Really?" Taehyung hopped to her side and started being cute.

Nari broke and squealed, falling over. "I can't do it! He's too cute! Look at him!" He grinned, enjoying the way she reacted so brightly to his actions.

Finally, they got it together and began the pose. He put both hands on her shoulders, startling her. He almost drew back apologetically before she turned and looked at his hands.

"Whoa. You've got big hands. Congrats."

"Oh my god. Did you just congratulate him for having big hands?" The grin of the MC's face was smarmy to say the least. "Why would you do that, Dream Man?" Those who understood why she said that laughed.

"Isn't that because being tall is good? He grew up well?" Soohae asked the other girls.

"Not quite. I somehow don't think that's what she meant." The MC continued. Taehyung had withdrawn and shyly hid his hands.

"Oh, but of course what I meant was big hands are great because you can hold more puppies." Nari grinned mischievously.

The picture was taken, both idols slightly pink cheeked and smiling brightly.

The last segment was a nightmare for all of Canary. None of them particularly enjoyed Chicken Fights. The girls weren’t athletically inclined or aggressive, and Nari didn’t like hurting people so much smaller and weaker than her. Nari went out with Shinji and Hwayun.

“This is the perfect time to ask your boss for something if you win.” The host nudged Nari forward.

“But I already won the strength competition.” Nari frowned.

“Ask for two things.” Saera yelled out.

“Can we have a bigger budget for stage outfits? And… a new stereo system in the practice room.”

“One that actually works.” Hwayun laughed. “We’ve been using a tiny portable speaker that we can barely hear over our singing or shoes.”

“Win in 3 minutes.” He requested.

“Is there something I can wrap my knee up with so I don’t hurt the girls?” Nari requested. They tossed her a spare sweater. She did her best to wrap up her knee. “It’s a bigger target, but that’s fine. I’ll play center, fast, so keep up.”

Her footing was steady and she cut through her opponents like a knife through butter. She won in under a minute. “The girls will discuss the budget increase with you.” She grinned up at their boss before turning around to apologize to the other girls and make sure they were alright.

When she was helping some girls to their seats, she heard someone yell ‘Watch out!’ followed by stumbling and an eerie crashing sound. She whipped her head around to look for the cause and saw a cameraman who’d stumbled into one of the set pillars that held one of the ceiling cams. It knocked it unsteady so that there was now a massive, heavy light fixture about to fall into the crowd of idols. Some tried to jump over each other to get away from where it might land, but it was swinging so ominously over all of them that no one really knew where it would fall. Some sat still in shock, like deer in headlights.

Nari saw the cords snapping and loosening dangerously and figured out where it was going to drop. She didn’t even bother ripping off the sweater around her knee before sprinting up the stairs and launching herself just in time to catch the hot light box when it almost landed on the idols stuck at the top of the stands. She was straddling an idol who had been standing, about to try to run down the steps. The lights had almost landed on his head or the legs of the idols behind him.

Taehyung’s doe eyes blinked owlishly up at her. He was frozen like he didn’t know what to do, which was definitely the case.

“Are you okay?” Nari winced, trying to drop the heavy lights carefully onto the steps.

“Yeah.” He gulped out.

She backed off so she wasn’t sitting on him anymore. “Are you sure? You almost died.”

“You’re really fast.”

She laughed at that. “Good thing too. You guys almost got seriously hurt.”

“Instead, you’re seriously hurt.” Shinji narrowed her eyes at her leader. “What’s wrong with your arms?”

“Catching something that heavy isn’t safe for your arms. Who knew.” She shrugged it off and made her way down the steps. “It’s fine.” Everyone was staring at her in awe. Some had witnessed firsthand her heroism in the Championship, but to witness it in such an instance, so suddenly, was something entirely new.

“Good thing this show is almost over. We’re taking you to the hospital.”

“But I’m fine.” She almost whined. Almost.

Shinji grabbed one of her arms, and Nari couldn’t even hold back the whimper. “Oh yeah. Fine.” She scoffed derisively and turned to their manager. “Get the car. We need to get her to the hospital.”

“And I need to talk to someone responsible.” Their CEO narrowed his eyes at the staff on set.

“Don’t be too hard on them. It was an honest mistake and no one got hurt anyway. They just need to be more careful.” Nari tried to request from him.

“YOU GOT HURT!” Shinji yelled at Nari. “Stop trying to die a hero! You’re our leader! What are we supposed to do without you?! I know you refuse to take care of yourself first, but you are not no one and you got hurt, damn it!”

Nari blinked at her in shock before stepping into her space and hooking her chin over Shinji’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I can’t hug you properly right now because my arms hurt a bit, but I want to apologize. I’ve scared you. I didn’t mean to. I’ll try to do better. How can I not when someone so kind is worried about me?” She grinned.

“No! You don’t get to use your sweet ‘Dream Man’ words to get out of my wrath! You recklessly endangered yourself, and this discussion is not over!”

“I know it isn’t. I welcome all of your complaints and concerns. But first, let’s take me to the hospital. Maybe you’ll be inclined to yell at me less if I’m sitting on a hospital bed.” Nari giggled.

“Brat.”

“You love me. You take care of me. I’m your brat.” Nari cheesed.

“Of course I take care of you. You sure as hell won’t take care of yourself so someone has to.” She huffed while stomping away to drag the girls all into their van to go to the hospital together.

“Does it really hurt?” The maknae line looked at her worriedly.

“It does, but feeling you guys worry about me makes it hurt less. I’m thankful I’m cared about.”

“You cannot be real.” Bora gaped at her on their way out. “You’re… like… the perfect guy.”

“I am who I am.” She shrugged. “Stay safe. It was fun.” She bowed politely to the studio before ducking out of the door Hwayun was holding open for her.

Nari had to let her arms heal properly, pushing back their comeback a month and a half. She still appeared on shows, but they couldn’t ask her for demonstrations that required her arms. Luckily her kicks were even more impressive than her punches, especially since they now knew she could do so much more. But the upside was that Saera and Hwayun were getting more recognition for their dancing now since the clip of their Ring The Alarm choreography went viral. And the cute little showing of perfect harmony brought more attention to the musicality of the group, and Shinji was being requested as their producer, songwriter, and main vocalist. Areum, Jinhee, and Soohae worked together to figure out a viable budget increase and what they wanted to do with the new budget.

Their next promotional cycle incidentally matched up with BTS’ one week promotional cycle for Fire, which they all loved and kept playing. Saera released a clip of dance line doing the choreography for the chorus onto their youtube and linked it on their twitter as well.

“Hey!” Nari sought Taehyung out when she heard they were in the building. “Whoa, you guys get a nice room and everything.” She grinned.

He did his best to ignore that her stage outfit this time was fitted and slightly more revealing than before. A turtleneck, sleeveless crop top stretchy sweater that was a little too tight on her and high waisted short shorts. It showcased her toned arms and shoulders, peeked at her abs, and her long and muscled legs. As well as a shapely that wasn’t clearly shown in the loose jeans, skirts, and sweatpants from before.

He kept his eyes trained on her face.

“Yeah, it’s much better than the tiny little cubicles.” He laughed. “We have more room to jump around and annoy each other now.”

“Indeed.” She nodded. “I wanted to ask how you were doing. I couldn’t do a proper follow up and make sure you were alright after the camera thing.”

“I’m fine. You’re the one who had to go to the hospital. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I can do one handed push ups on both arms again.” She laughed.

“Amazing!” He clapped in awe of her.

“So, have you been watching me?”

“What?!” He flushed to a bright red, fearing that he’d been caught. He knew he shouldn’t have been so obvious since the Championships.

“For the drama. You wanted to use me as a guide for ‘coolness’. Have you been observing me well?”

“Y-yeah.” He nodded, his initial panic having calmed down some.

“He’s always watching your shows and appearances.” Yoongi yawned. “It’s a good thing you’re kinda funny or I’d hit him for watching the same type of crap all the time.” Taehyung flushed to the bright red again.

“He has to. It’s for research!” Nari smiled with full sincerity. “It’s exciting to be acting in a drama! He wants to do well. You should be more supportive since he’s trying so hard to do his best for the drama.”

“Sure. Let’s go with that.” Yoongi snorted and turned over to keep sleeping.

Nari shrugged and turned back to Taehyung. “How is the training going? Have you started?”

“Yeah, but I can’t get some of the moves right.” He sighed. “I thought it’d be more like dancing, but it’s not.”

“On the contrary. You’re likely using a martial arts based on Taekkyeon. It’s musical and fluid in nature. Let me help you with the basics and foundations.” She dragged him to the center of their room. “Copy my movements. I’ll do it backwards so just mirror me.” She started the deliberate foot movement pattern. “It’s good to practice this kind of stance and pattern for now. Keep practicing it and I’ll show you more tomorrow. I think my group is about to be called to prepare to go on stage.” She glanced at the screen and tried to remember the lineup order. “Good luck!” She ran out the room.

For all of their shows, she’d show up, sometimes alone, sometimes with the others, and she’d help him get into the flow of the moves. She even got him started on practicing to do a butterfly kick. She didn’t have a wall bar for him to use, so she just held onto his hands for him to practice the side to side jumps to prepare for the butterfly kick. “You’re doing so well!”

“I am?”

“Yeah! You’re almost ready to try doing it on a mat.” She nodded encouragingly. “Now let’s get back to practicing your punches.” She wrapped her hands in t shirts and had him punch her hands and learn to dodge her swipes. “Move faster. Don’t move like that. That’s a boxing style.”

For a week, they did this. The next training session he had for Hwarang was amazing. No one understood his incredible improvements as well as his new abilities. He practiced the butterfly kicks until they were perfect. He had someone record him doing it so he could send it to Nari, who had given him her number on the second day so she could find their waiting room easier and give him advice when he had troubles with some moves.

She sent back a bunch of emojis and exclamation points. He read and reread that nonsensical message for days, more than a little happy.

He was so gone on her.

About a month later, Nari hopped out of the van by herself, which wasn’t unusual. However, it was unusual to be going to a tv drama set. All of the actors were getting their hair and makeup done in the same room to save space and time. Taehyung was in the middle of telling a story that was making everyone’s sides hurt from laughing so much when he saw her get led into the room.

“Nari?”

“Hey Taehyung. It looks like I’m making a cameo.”

“No way! That’s awesome!” He ignored the makeup artist telling him to sit still and jumped out of his seat to run to her. “What part are you playing? Are you going to do cool martial arts?”

“I should think so. I’m playing the part of an assassin. Most of my interactions will be with Go Ara though.”

“That’s so cool!”

“You look great with long hair, by the way. Can I touch it?” Nari reached a hand out towards his face. He nodded and stayed still for her. “Wow. It’s really soft too.”

“You dyed your hair black.” He commented. Her hair had been medium brown with the bottom half blue for their last promotional cycle. It had faded to a green-blue mix by the end.

“Yeah. It wouldn’t make sense for my character to have two tone hair.” She laughed. “My grandparents prefer my hair black anyway.” She shrugged. “Weren’t you in the middle of getting your makeup done?”

“Oh yeah! Gotta go! I’m gonna get yelled at now.” He pouted. “I’ll see you in a bit!”

Nari greeted everyone, actors, actresses, and cast and crew with deep bows and polite greetings.

“Come this way and we can get you into your costume. Then we’ll need you to wipe your makeup off so we can get you all done up.”

“I’m not wearing makeup.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. I went to dance practice, showered, and came here. I’m not good at doing my makeup myself, so I just don’t bother. Areum told me you guys would want me to be bare-faced anyway.”

“I hate you.”

“What?!” Nari sounded shocked and a little hurt by that sudden statement.

Everyone watched the girl get led to the dressing room, smiling at the interaction.

“She’s prettier in person.” Ara noted.

“Did you see her in the Idol Olympics? She’s intense.” Minho grinned. “I’d like to race her, honestly.”

“She’s actually super nice and friendly. She never hides anything, even though sometimes I think it’d be better for her if she did.” Taehyung beamed while talking about her, getting poked in the forehead for moving too much. “And she’s so cool. I learned how to be cool from her. Plus, she’s why I got so much better at martial arts. She’s pro.”

“Seriously?”

“You weren’t there, but she was the coolest at the Idol Olympics. You didn’t see in person how she took the guys out or how she took care of her group members. She’s so cool.”

“You really like her.”

“Definitely. She’s nice.”

“Just nice?”

Taehyung paused at that and narrowed his eyes at them. “I know what you’re getting at. No, it’s not like that. She just sees me as a friend.”

“And you? How do you see her?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” He smiled sadly. “But it’s okay. Being friends with her is fun.”

“Oh… I’m sorry for pushing it…”

“No, it’s fine. My members are always teasing me about her anyway. It’s better than just being sad about it.”

Nari came back shortly, wearing the black robes modeled after ninjas.

“You look awesome!” Taehyung complimented when he saw her.

“This feels really comfortable. Not that different from what I’m used to, honestly. Especially this part,” She kicked out her foot. “This is how we wear our pants and shoes when we’re practicing Taekkyeon.”

“So you actually know Taekkyeon?”

“The main family owns a traditional Taekkyeon dojo in the mountains. It’s a requirement in my family to learn at least the basics of Taekkyeon or another great Korean Martial Arts. I learned Taekkyeon on and off for most of my life, though my focus was Taekwondo.”

“That’s amazing.” Ara gasped.

“I think that’s why I got this part. I’d need less training.”

The hair and makeup was very underdone for her character. She wasn’t supposed to be pretty or sparkly. Her character was almost androgynous and easygoing. She was supposed to tease A-ro and almost try to seduce the girl.

Her character’s mission was to kill Sam Maek Jong, but Sunwoo and the others would capture her before she could succeed, though she held her own well enough against all of them for a time. She almost escaped until they had the room surrounded by guards and she couldn’t get out. She surrendered and let them tie her up in the dungeons. A-ro would visit her after finding out she was a girl. They would talk and she would rile A-ro up. A-ro would ask her character why she was doing this. Why she didn’t seem to even care she was about to be executed.

Almost like smoke, her character would disappear from the dungeon right before her execution. A-ro would find a note on her pillow beneath one of her hair pieces with gems laid in them. ‘A gem is strong and beautiful even outside of the city. Maybe one day you’ll have a taste of freedom.’

Choreographing the fight sequence was difficult only because Nari was the only one fully trained to actually do everything with years of experience.

The stunt choreographer sighed again. “No, if you kick like that, you’ll accidentally hurt her or yourself.”

“Why not just have a general idea and let them come at me?” Nari offered after mistake after mistake kept happening. They were burning precious daylight hours.

“That’s hardly safe for you.”

“I’d be a disappointment to my family if I couldn’t dodge and defend myself from people who lack my intensive training.”

“And you promise you won’t hurt yourself or anyone else?”

“Yes. I promise. All they have to do is try to attack me and try not to hurt themselves.”

They tried it her way, cautiously at first until she proved to be more than capable at exactly what she said she’d do. After a couple takes and angles, the director decided they had enough but wanted to try another last angle. It went fine until Do Jihan tripped over a chair, knocking it into one of the largest and heaviest set pieces. Nari pushed Do Jihan and Park Seojoon away from the tumbling set pieces and launched herself to cover Taehyung as it all came crashing down. When it finally settled and everyone began to lift up the set pieces, Nari looked down to make sure Taehyung was alright.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?” She asked him worriedly when he hadn’t said anything. All the set pieces were lifted off of them now, so she sat up and gave him some space.

“Me?! You’re asking if I’m okay?! You’re the one who’s hurt! You’re bleeding! Why did you do that?! That’s so dangerous and you need to be careful! I would’ve been okay! Just worry about yourself! This is the second time you’ve done this! Stop it!” He yelled at her, startling everyone because though he could be loud, he wasn’t one to ever yell at anyone.

Nari hugged him gently. “I’m sorry. It was scary, wasn’t it? But you’re my friend, and like I said about dogs being loyal, I’ll protect you loyally. I have so few and precious friends. I gotta take care of them.” She smiled, sitting back once more. “Go get yourself checked to make sure you’re alright.”

He looked like he wanted to yell at her some more, but bit his tongue instead. “And you?”

“I need to talk to the fight scene choreographer real quick, but I assure you I’ll be getting checked too. I need to be in good health to be a good guard dog.” She grinned.

He had minor scratches and was getting treatment for them when he heard Nari’s muffled groan nearby. He shook off the on set medic to run to her. She was keeled over on her knees with a towel shoved in . The stunt choreographer was there with her, gently holding her arm and shoulder.

“What happened?” Her dropped to his knees beside her, some others came crowding around as well.

“I had to pop her shoulder back in place.”

They watched Nari force her breathing back under her control before she sat up and spat the towel out, cradling her arm to her body. “It always hurts more popping it back in than it does popping out.” Her eyes were a bit wet, but she was smiling easily. “Don’t worry, Tae Tae, I’m fine.” She used the affectionate nickname to calm him down some.

“You’re hurt.”

“You think any Olympic hopeful doesn’t earn a couple battle scars? This is nothing. I’m okay. How about you? You’ve got some scratches.”

“Oh yeah because my scratches are as bad as your shoulder or that gash on your hand.” He huffed with a glare that lacked any true heat.

“Let’s go get our scratches treated.” She rolled her eyes fondly and got to her feet.

“That’s not a scratch. It’s a huge gash.” He grabbed her wrist, luckily it was her good arm. “Look at the blood.”

“You’re being overdramatic.”

“And you’re being too blase. You need to be more careful with yourself.”

“I protected you so I think it’s all worth it.” She grinned, teasing him lightly.

“I’m not worth it.”

“I think you are.”

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“Just accept it. As my friend, that’s just how it is.”

“Being your friend means watching you hurt yourself?”

“Being my friend means I’m not gonna stand by and let you get hurt. This isn’t nearly as bad as when I caught the light box four months ago.”

“Thanks for reminding me of the other time you got hurt saving my life.”

“4 lives. It was you, Jimin, Hoseok, and Yoongi.”

“Fine. Our 4 lives.” He grumbled.

“Don’t be such a sourpuss. I’m fine.” She bumped him with her hip. “My arms healed properly, and my shoulder barely hurts anymore.”

“Well, as my friend, you gotta accept me being a sourpuss when you’re hurt.”

“I’d actually prefer it. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when I know the people I care about also care and worry for me.” She grinned.

“You’re the worst.” He looked away so she wouldn’t see him blushing.

“Hey, that’s no way to talk to someone who saved your life twice.” She pouted.

“You’re insufferable.”

“So rude. I see how it is. After you learned how to be cool and got me to help you learn martial arts, I’m no longer useful? Fine.” She mock sniffed and tried to walk away.

He grabbed her good arm to stop her. “Stop being an idiot.”

“Aye aye captain.” She winked at him.

She filmed the rest of her scenes in the next two days. She was almost always with Taehyung, joking about something. The more time they spent together, the better and better they got along. Nari was actually playful by nature, and used to playing around with boys because of Taekwondo and coming from a mostly male family. Her own family was rather out of the norm, so nothing he ever said or did bothered her. She’d just respond in kind and they’d laugh about it.

When her scenes were done, she said her farewells to the cast and staff, whom she’d also befriended in her short time there. It was hard not to like someone so genuinely kind and friendly.

Taehyung was even more gone on her than before, and it was already bad before.

“She’s a really cool person.” Ara nodded. “It’s no wonder people call her Dream Man.”

“You really don’t think she likes you?” Minho asked.

“I’m not very subtle, and she’s very polite.”

She was courteous to a fault, and he was definitely obvious about his feelings towards the girl.

“That’s true.” Seojoon winced.

In honor of the Rio Olympics 2016, Running Man held another Running Man versus Idols Olympics. Nari was chosen as the female idol competitor. She was the second to arrive in the waiting room, fully dressed in the blue tracksuit with the velcro name tag on her back. She bowed politely to BtoB’s Minhyuk, the first to arrive. The next to arrive was Xiumin, a sweet and friendly smile readily on his face. Doojoon arrived next, greeting everyone personally and assuring everyone that they were going to have fun. He was  the only one to have done this before.

Jackson entered next, high fiving Nari and greeting everyone else as properly as he could. He sat next to Nari since they were already friends. Leo arrived next, shyly bowing and sitting next to Xiumin and Doojoon, the ones he already knew from playing soccer with them. The last to arrive was Jungkook, bowing low to everyone and sitting by Nari since she was the first to call him over.

“I’m surprised you’re not too busy.” She . He just laughed it off and stuffed his hands into his pockets nervously. Regardless of the fact that he was nearly 3 years her senior in the industry, he would probably never have her ease and steady confidence -- probably something to do with the sheer knowledge that she could kick everyone’s asses with her eyes closed. He observed how she was already in good graces with the other guys; even Leo, someone even more introverted than himself, seemed to not be on guard with her.

“Oh! She used to be your Taekwondo instructor, right?” Doojoon asked Jungkook.

“Yes.” He nodded shyly.

Nari grinned, “That was the past. Now he’s my sunbaenim.”

“Please don’t call me that. It’s weird.” Jungkook grimaced.

“You can’t be afraid of me forever.” She snorted.

“But I probably will be. I don’t know how Taehyung does it.”

“Well, to be fair, he was never my student and I never threw him over my shoulder for days straight. He doesn’t have any reason to fear me.”

Doojoon leaned forward in interest at the mention of the not present idol. “Be honest, in this room of people who get it and will of course keep our mouths shut, are you and Taehyung dating?”

“No.” Nari shook her head. “I know that rumor keeps going around, but we really are just friends. Because he’s in Hwarang, a story based in the era of the prevalence Taekkyeon and similar martial arts, I’ve been helping him get the moves down. Plus he tried to learn how to be manly from me.” She laughed.

The shooting went well, with Nari consistently pulling her part without any errors. She beat everyone she went up against. If she wasn’t stronger than them, then she was much faster than them with reflexes like a cat. Nari’s reliability and generally easy going nature made the rest of her team feel at ease with her. She was clearly more comfortable in this company than surrounded by girls.

At one point, while the two teams were eating their meals (the idol team had better food because they won the race, but Nari insisted on trading her full, gourmet tray with Song Jihyo’s plain meal), Nari revealed that she typically had a crude sense of humor so she usually had to hold back on shows.

“What do you expect from me? I’ve been surrounded by boys my whole life, so my sense of humor kind of… just matched with theirs.” She shrugged it off.

“I can’t believe this from the Dream Man.”

“That’s part of why I feel uncomfortable with the title/nickname. I feel like that aspect of me, which is hidden from the fans out of propriety, isn’t what they’d like. They want me to always be a gentleman and cautious, but in reality, once I’m comfortable and with the right people, I’m a bit… rotten?”

“I’ve never seen a female idol call themselves rotten before.”

“You’ve also never seen a female idol overtake Kim Jongkook in a race.” She grinned, referencing the way she completely destroyed Kim Jongkook in the relay race earlier. “And other idols worry about their images more than I do. At first, I was really worried about my image, but everything I’ve gotten up to this point was just me being me, so it seems like I’ll be okay. Of course, I still have to be careful about what I say on air.”

“I’m really offended. You’ve never made a crude joke in front of me before.” Jackson whined.

“Because I don’t know the rest of your group well enough yet. Plus, I don’t know if I’d upset your delicate constitution if I drop a joke randomly.” Nari whipped her head around to look at the cameras and producers. “Crap, that’s not okay to say on TV is it?”

“It wasn’t, but it was funny.” Everyone was laughing at her now.

“Well! I wouldn’t be offended by such a joke! Feel free to be comfortable around me!” Jackson exclaimed. “You’ve been there to listen to me whine about my concerns, so it’s only natural that we be closer and more comfortable as friends then.”

“Do you make dirty jokes with V, by chance?” Someone hedged.

Nari snorted. “I have a couple times, because they slipped out before I could remember myself. He’s always a little shocked at first, but then he laughs so hard he falls over. It’s because I was looking at movie reviews for ones in the states, and there was an R-rated movie, a little like Haha’s Who Slept With Her movie with dirty humor. He saw me looking at it and asked me about it, so I explained it to him. He seemed mortified until I made a joke.”

“How often do you two hang out?”

“Not often. As Jungkook can probably tell you, BTS is really busy and Taehyung is filming Hwarang.”

“And how did you two become close again?”

“He’s the one who saw Jinhee talking to the two men and noticed that it looked like she was looking for me. He didn’t realize anything nefarious was going on, but him pointing her out to me got me to go to her, and subsequently save her like I did. After thanking him profusely for his part in saving her, he asked me what my favorite Big Bang song was, and we really got along well then. After that was when our comebacks overlapped and I helped him with getting the bits of martial arts training he got down. It was then that we realized we are great friends. We hang out if we can, or if I can go visit them, but mostly we just message each other.”

“So… just friends?”

“No. Not just friends. Great friends.” Nari smirked.

“Who do you like more? Me or Taehyung?” Jackson asked.

“I’m not answering that question. That’s just mean of you to ask.”

“You have to answer!”

“No I don’t. Giving either answer would mean hurting one of my friends. I can make friends, but I have very few close friends, friends who accept all of my quirks. I cherish those friends, and you’re both at that level. I refuse to do something to knowingly hurt either of you, even if it’s you asking it of me.”

“It’s him, isn’t it?”

“My favorite person in the world in my mother. After that, I don’t rank the people I care about.”

“It’s him.”

“Oh my god.” Nari gasped in sudden realization. “I’ve witnessed this before! When my brother was arguing with his girlfriend in high school. She kept accusing him of thinking another girl is pretty!”

“Are you calling me a clingy girlfriend?!”

“No, but you sure are acting like one and I’m not even getting laid.” She snorted.

“Oh my god. She really is a bit rotten.”

“You, I like you.” Haha high fived her. “We should have drinks together.”

“Oh, I’m a great time when I’m drunk.” She snickered.

And so the day went on with Nari gradually making friends or good impressions as she went. She wasn’t tense or nervous in the slightest, which made for comfortable conversations and comfortable silences in between. Jungkook was still too scared to let her get close -- it was programmed into him to not let her get a hold of him or else he’d get hurt, but he could joke around with her, and look to her when he was too nervous or shy. With members like Jinhee and Shinji, Nari was perfect for understanding how to deal with Jungkook and Leo and was able to cover for them when they needed her to.

At the last game, the name tag elimination game. She was impossible to catch with her climbing and running skills. Her family retreats trained her for evasion and hunting. She had to warn her VJ that there was no way he was going to be able to keep up with her. She was given a hand cam in case she were too far separated (which was most of the race). Idol team had arrived second to the location and Team Running Man already chose to ‘hunt’ first.

“What am I physically allowed to do in self-defense?” Nari asked the producers and writers. “I can do a lot of things that won’t break bones and will honestly look like it hurts a lot more than it does, but they’ll be fine.”

“No actual violence.”

“Can I tackle or body check them?”

“As long as you don’t actually hurt them, we’ll allow it.”

“Okay.” Nari turned to her team. “For now, I am Team Idol’s Guard Dog. If you’re caught, run and call for me. Don’t worry about chivalry or whatever. I got it. Don’t stop running.”

And from that point on, no one ever knew where Nari was until someone resorted to calling for help. And then, like a comic book superhero, she’d fly in and save the day. No matter which Running Man member it was, Nari handled them easily until she knew her teammate was safely away before running off to hide on her own once more. They witnessed Nari climbing up a wall using a nearby column up to the next level. They couldn’t chase after her even if they could get past the shock of seeing that.

Oh, but when it was Team Idol’s turn to hunt, Nari was relentless and ruthless. In their first turn, she took out Gary, Haha, and Jihyo (she had to do a stealth attack on Jihyo instead of full on assault like she had for Gary and Haha because she wasn’t comfortable taking down the woman) primarily by herself. The guys took out Sukjin and Kwangsoo.

“So that leaves Yoo Jaesuk and Kim Jongkook.” She nodded when they met up briefly before the change over.

Doojoon looked around. “We lost Minseok, Taekwoon, and Jackson. We outnumber them 2 to 1.”

“Can we really count Nari as one person?” Minhyuk laughed.

“We need Nari to stay alive no matter what.” Jungkook mumbled. He cleared his throat when the other three turned to look at him. “Aside from all three of us against Kim Jongkook, she’s our only chance at getting him out.”

“I was hoping to get him out first.” Nari sighed. “I couldn’t find him.”

“It’s cool. This time, don’t save us. Take care of yourself. You’re the only one who can even think about being a lone hunter anyway.” Doojoon nodded at Nari.

“Try not to die and leave me lonely.” She frowned. “I won’t actively come to save you, but I’m not leaving you guys out to dry either. Let’s finish this.” She grinned at her teammates. After a huddle break, they all ran their separate ways.

Jongkook got Jungkook out near the end of their round while Jaesuk narrowly missed out on catching both Doojoon and Minhyuk. No one saw Nari again until the changeover. She sent Doojoon and Minhyuk out as a set of eyes to look for Jongkook. They were to call her over immediately. When the three were on the chase after finally spotting Jongkook, they ran into Jaesuk as well. She sent the two guys to take him out while she stuck to the chase. Eventually she caught up and launched herself onto his back, making them tumble along the grass. He wrestled around before she got a secure grip on his tag, but she tripped him up with her legs and latched onto him. It was mere seconds before she got a hold of the name tag once more and ended it cleanly.

The day was a clean victory for Team Idol. The look on their teams’ faces when Jongkook and Nari entered the jail, covered in grass and dirt stains, was priceless.

“See? I promised no one would get seriously hurt.” Nari grinned at the staff and cast.

“I don’t think I’ll ever meet anyone as capable as you.” They genuinely stated.

“After filming with us and completely destroying the cast in the games, how do you guys feel?” The writers asked the idols.

“I feel like I’m very curious as to how it would work out if I was teamed up with either Kim Jongkook or Ji Sukjin.” Nari had answered honestly when it was her turn.

“Maybe we’ll have you come back and pair up with one of them.”

“I look forward to it.”

As the idols were preparing to go home or to wherever else they needed to be, Haha asked if any of them wanted to join him and the cast and staff for a night of drinks, no pressure. Some had to bail because of an early flight or other schedule (Leo, Xiumin, and Doojoon), but the rest of the team agreed (Jungkook had to call for permission first).

They went out to a bar that was owned by one of Haha’s close friends. Jungkook had tried to not drink very much, but with the way their sunbaes kept pouring him shots, he was gone after the first hour. He seemed to be a bit more relaxed, laughing louder and making more jokes. He became almost best friends with Minhyuk because the older boy doted on him and sat on his lap drunk. Jackson and Nari were singing and dancing to anything and everything. Jackson didn’t drink much, but Nari was drinking people under the table. Eventually it was getting late and it was time to go home or move to the next place. The idols decided it was enough fun for the night and waited for their rides. Jihyo and Jaesuk stayed behind to make sure the four idols were okay.

“Shinji sounds annoyed.” Nari giggled to the others, slouched into cushy chair.

“So did Peniel.” Minhyuk snickered to her left.

“Mark was mad, but I think he’s bringing Jinhyung so I’ll be properly scolded.” Jackson pouted up from Nari’s lap where he was resting his head sleepily.

“Who’s picking you up?” Nari asked Jungkook.

“My manager. He’s picking up Taehyung from filming too. He seems almost proud of me…” Jungkook’s confusion was clearly evident on his face.

Shinji and Taehyung arrived at the same time, laughing about having to pick up their drunk group members. Nari put down the bottle of water Jaesuk or Jihyo had given her to bound over to the two, enveloping them both in bone crushing hugs.

“Gross. Get off. You know I don’t like hugging, especially when you smell like the inside of a beer bottle. Hug him.” Shinji shrugged her off.

Nari pouted slightly but turned to hug Taehyung completely.

“Oh?” He was surprised. They were close and they practiced martial arts a lot, but affectionate hugging was not something they’ve ever done. He both relished in and was tortured by the fact that she was so warm and actually quite gentle this time. She was running her hands up and down his arms and shoulders, resting her cheek on his collar bones. “I didn’t realize she was such a cuddly drunk.”

“She’s not.” Shinji smirked. “Nari only cuddles with people she likes a whole lot. She’s used to being affectionate, but more in a sense that people get into her space. She doesn’t get into other’s spaces as much. If you want her to hug you sober, just hug her first to let her know it’s alright.” She advised.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Taehyung sent her his signature boxy grin. “Have you been drinking water?” He asked Nari.

“Mmhm.” She nodded into his neck and started walking them backwards. He had to maneuver them together to keep from tripping over stuff since she refused to separate herself from him and walk like a normal person.

“Hey hyung.” Jungkook yawned. “Oh whoa.” He woke up slightly at seeing Nari clinging onto Taehyung clearly in front of him. “Is that a good idea?”

“It is what it is.” Taehyung shrugged. “I’ll take what I can get.”

“You’ve been gaining muscle.” Nari mumbled, reaching around blindly for her water bottle. Taehyung figured it out quickly and guided her hand to the bottle. “Be careful. You have a smaller frame and your grace is in your litheness.”

“Okay. I’ll stay lithe for you.”

“But I thought your grandma likes you chubby?”

“I’m already losing my cheek fat. It’s very unfortunate.” He stuck out his bottom lip fully in an exaggerated pout.

She stepped away from him to peer up at his face. She took both cheeks into her hands and smushed his face. “You still have some cheeks. Cute!” She grinned and leaned up to kiss his cheeks. “You’re so cute!” His face was burning under her palms, but she was too drunk to notice it. Too drunk to notice the stunned expressions of everyone else in the room.

“Oh, since you’re drunk enough to do it, how about showing him your new fanservice bit that Saera showed you?” There was something in Shinji’s smile that spelled something disastrous for Taehyung’s life.

“Oh? But it’s geared towards female fans.”

“It’s fine. Just show him. I’ll play the song.” As Shinji pulled out her phone, she smirked to the others ‘You’ll want to witness this’. She played Nick Jonas’ Close.

Taehyung groaned inwardly. Of course, no matter how drunk she was, she was a coordinated person and was able to perform at ease. She even had this fire in her eyes when she looked at him that made him almost believe she wanted him. It was in the chorus that he realized exactly why this was a fanservice bit. She got close, so very close, and pulled his face down to hers by the back of his neck as she did body rolls against him. When it was done, she let go of his neck but didn’t back away to give him space like he expected or desperately needed for his sanity.

“How did I do? Saera always complains that my hips aren’t loose enough because I don’t like dancing ily.”

“Nope. Uh. Yeah. You’re good. Great. Hips. Sufficiently loose. We need to go now.” Taehyung grabbed Jungkook and ran out to shove him into the van before Nari could go after them.

“I’m immediately telling the girls this happened.” Shinji looked happier than Nari’s ever seen her as she guided Nari out to their car.

“I’m so confused. So… not just friends?” Jihyo asked Jaesuk.

“No, I’m pretty sure they’re just friends in her eyes, but not for him.”

Jackson turned over and yawned into Jaesuk’s shoulder. “He likes her. A lot. It’s kind of sad to watch. Namjoon keeps telling me about how Taehyung is always going on and on about her but refuses to say anything to her about his feelings.”

“No kidding.” Minhyuk giggled. “Sungjae keeps threatening to tell her himself.”

“Like, it’s not even a secret that he likes her. Any time anybody sees them together, it’s clear as day that he’s gone on her.” Jackson snorted. “He’s got no chill. Always chasing after her like a puppy when she doesn’t feel the same.”

“She doesn’t?”

“Come on, he’s that obvious and she doesn’t say a thing? She’s ignoring it to be nice because she only likes him as a friend.”

“The look in her eyes, those weren’t the eyes of a woman who was just looking at her friend.” Jihyo shrugged. “But he is pretty obvious. She seems like the type that would confess first, honestly.”

“Right?”

They were on the same team for the Idol Olympics Championship in September, except, Taehyung wasn’t there because he had to shoot Hwarang. It was fine though, she got along really well with the other guys and the rest of their team, and they were still messaging each other regularly.

Sure, it was obvious he had a crush on her, but it was also obvious that she favored him, even if only platonically. She was happy when the next championships came around and they were in the same team again, but with him present. They sat next to each other the entire time, chatting and laughing. She relaxed around him in a way she never did otherwise. Fans commented on it and took to it like gasoline and fire.

Most fans had to photoshop images of their faves together, but not Nari and Taehyung’s shippers. They were comfortable together, shameless and happy. He ignored the fan signs that at their couple names on them, but she laughed at them. It was easy for her to laugh at something she deemed so absurd.

BTS and Canary had another comeback around the same time again, in October. Both were doing well, Canary earned their place in a small, private waiting room after their win. Nari was exceptionally popular with everyone, even traditionalists who had made derisive remarks and suggested that she learned how to be a lady. After a few minutes of talking to her, they couldn’t help but like her.

After the time the two groups spent together at the championships and olympics, because it was no secret Taehyung and Nari were close ever since some of the actors from Hwarang posted pics of the two joking on set, the boys and girls were getting just as close to each other as well. They were even often together in each other's waiting rooms. The Music Show staff debated just putting them in the same room to save time for everyone. On the ending stages, the two groups were always found by each other, joking around. Not all of the members were close, but enough were to make it appear so.

Eventually it led to a very popular request that the two groups perform a special winter collaboration stage. Both companies agreed to it readily, knowing it was a great and fun opportunity.

Canary entered the Big Hit dance practice room warily (Big Hit had a bigger building with better facilities). They’d been nervous about the collaboration stage ever since they were told about it.

The boys and their choreographers were already there.

“Let’s start with showing me what you’ve got. I know what you’ve all done for choreography for your songs, and that amazing Ring The Alarm routine, but I’d like to know what you at your best is so I can make the best choreography for this performance. Main dancer up first. You can play your music on the machine -- hook up your phone and start.”

Hwayun stepped up and did one of her best self-made dances to Thinkin Bout You by Frank Ocean.

“Fluid, sharp, confident. Detail oriented.” The choreographer noted. “As expected. You’re best with Hoseok.”

Saera was next and performed to All Hands on Deck by Tinashe.

“Ah. So you’re the y one.”

“You could say that.” Saera laughed with a shrug. She was easy going by nature, but had a lot of iness that was intimidating to others.

“You’re a smooth dancer with a lot of feel and a slight dramatic flair. You match with Jimin.”

Nari was next as the second lead dancer. “I don’t really make choreography like them… I’m actually a lot of different from them.” She scratched the back of her neck, uncertain.

“She’s got great footwork and does tricks.” Shinji stated bluntly. “Former martial artist quirks. She freestyles and plays with what she hears and memorizes what she sees. It’s not always as clean as Saera or Hwayun, so she doesn’t want you to judge her on that too harshly.”

“I can try though.” Nari nodded more to herself than anyone else.

“I believe in you!” Taehyung and the others beamed at her.

“I’ll pick a song you know and you can just… run with it.”  Hwayun smiled, scrolling through her playlist. Surprisingly, she chose to play My Audi from Verbal Jint.

As expected from the girls, however, Nari jumped right in, light on her feet and quick to launch herself high in the air for her flips and twists. She eased up between the tricks and played with her footwork and groundwork. She did a vague copy of the choreography Hwayun had just performed, but with alterations to fit it to the new song and added her own flavor.

“You’re a passionate dancer and you’ve got a lot of strength, clearly. You’re light and quick though. We don’t really have a match for you, but Jungkook should be able to anchor you and he’s got a couple tricks up his sleeve too. You’ll bring the passion and power and he’ll bring the perfectionist attitude.”

“Sounds good.”

“I’ll be working you pretty hard though now that I know you can trick that well. Prepare to be in pain.”

“What’s life without a little pain to remind you that you’re alive?” Nari snorted.

Areum was next and performed a clean and pretty dance to Photograph by Ed Sheeran. She was paired off with Jin. He wasn’t as good of a dancer and had less control, the choreographer explained, but Jin was expressive and playful. Plus, the pair of visuals together was amazing.

Jinhee came next and performed to Good Luck by Beast. She was paired up with Taehyung because they were solid dancers and honestly quite cute together.

“Time for the worst two dancers.” Shinji and Soohae sighed and played rock, paper, scissors to see who’d go last. Soohae won and went first. She danced to Chu by f(x). It was passable as a solid cover, but clearly not confident. Shinji went next and danced to Why Don’t You Love Me by Beyonce which had been choreographed by Hwayun and Saera.

“Very good efforts, and not that bad honestly. Soohae will pair off with Yoongi, purely because her pure feel really does not go with Namjoon. He dances a little… too much for someone that’s more pure in nature.” He laughed, “Shinji is older and has enough stage presence to be confident at least. And maybe Soohae’s cuteness can bring some light into our Motionless Min’s eyes.”

“This won’t be easy but we’ll do our best. We’re more of a vocalist group, so we really hope that we won’t bring down the BTS name.” Nari led the group in a deep bow to the boys.

“It’s an interesting match up. Rap-based Bulletproof kids with the pretty singing Canaries.”

“How long do we have for this stage?” Hwayun asked.

“As long as we want, of course within reason.”

“Then… we don’t all have to dance.” Hwayun thought aloud. “Shinji, Soohae, Yoongi, and Namjoon. Main and lead vocalists and main and lead rapper. It would really emphasize our strengths in this match up and show how well we can blend our styles. Plus, vocally, there isn’t a power vocalist in BTS, not like Shinji. And Soohae is such a skilled lyrical soprano with pretty runs that rival a rapper’s verses. It’d be a great combination.”

“And then we can also split the dance performances.” Nari nodded. “Taehyung and Jin are your actors, no? Areum can also act, and Jinhee can follow their leads. A musical type performance would be great.”

“And then we can go hard on the choreography between the three dancers from each group.” Hwayun finished. “A complete mashup of our groups.”

“How fast can you learn your parts?” The choreographer looked at them thoughtfully.

“Nari doesn’t let us rest until we can do it in our sleep.” Soohae winced.

“For someone who naturally dances freestyle, she’s a perfectionist when it comes to our stages.”

“Alright. I’ll pitch it to the bosses. But, regardless, I want a performance with all of you together. If they agree to your ideas, this will be the ending stage of it.”

“Sounds great!” The girls beamed.

“Pair off to properly stretch and get to know your partners better.”

Areum was friendly and immediately hit it off with Jin. Jinhee and Taehyung were a little slower to get to talking, which was odd for Taehyung. Hwayun and Hoseok were already rolling on the floor laughing about something. Shinji and Soohae were breathing loud sighs of relief with Namjoon and Yoongi at getting out of doing a predominantly dance-based performance. Saera and Jimin were friendly enough. Jungkook kept a very polite distance between himself and Nari. He didn’t look directly at her, just in her general direction, which wasn’t new. Even in Taekwondo, he avoided looking directly at her, and at the Idol Athletic Championships, he still didn’t really look her in the eye.

“She’s not going to bite you.” Hwayun commented when she saw how the two were.

“I just have some trauma.” Jungkook winced.

Nari tried not to laugh too openly at the younger boy. “When he was going to my grandfather’s class, I may or may not have been in charge of instructing his group in taking hits like a champ. And if you girls think I’m strict with our choreography and practices, well… let’s just say it was nothing compared to how I was on my students.”

“We needed to learn how to fall. She also taught us how to fly.” Jungkook shivered.

“But how fast did you learn in my group? How fast did you learn how to not only catch yourself, but to effectively dodge my hits and approaches? I trained you from Red to Black Belt before you left.”

“I know. I’m very grateful, but I’m still traumatized.”

“Do you want to hit me? Throw me? Will it help?”

“Wait!” Taehyung sprang forward. “Throw me!” He requested of Nari.

“She doesn’t even throw Taekwondo style.” Jungkook winced. “The takedowns are different styles.”

“Yeah. I learned how to throw and takedown from my cousins in Judo and UFC training. All of the kids have to get together in the summer break at the main family’s Taekkyeon dojo in the mountains and we spar with each other. We trade techniques all day and then feast at night, sometimes just pass out wherever we are, wake up and do it all over again.” Nari grinned.

“Don’t you guys split up into training groups and go through insane obstacle courses on the mountain?” Saera asked, letting Jimin pull her arms to get her deeper into the stretch. They could both do the splits so he had to pull her even further than normal.

“Yeah. We pair up with another family member in our age group and go to a designated start location at the start of the week. Whoever gets there first and second gets to avoid all chores for the week. Last places gets the worst of the chores. I only did some chores my first year in the race. Every year after that, I was always first or second because I spent that first year angrily learning everything about that mountain from sun up to sun down any chance I got. I’m a little competitive and obsessive…”

“Like Jungkook.” Jimin nodded.

“So, you still want to get thrown?” Nari looked up at Taehyung and quirked her head to the side.

“Yes, but be gentle with me.” He beamed.

“Of course. You’re not wearing any padding and we don’t have a safety mat here.” Nari stood up and shook her arms out. “Do your best not to flinch. It’ll throw us both off balance and I won’t be able to catch you.”

“Okay!”

Nari darted into his space at an angle, one hand gripping his forearm. She turned her body into his, back to his front and heaved. He went sailing over her side. She lowered herself at the same time to catch his head and upper body. “Are you okay?”

“Whoa! That was so cool!” He grinned up at her while still cradled in her lap. “Can you show me some other ones?!”

“Of course. Get up.” They went through a couple takedowns, with her catching him just before he hit the ground every time.

“Is there a reason you’re attacking Taehyung?” The choreographers had returned mid drop and nearly startled her enough to miss the catch.

“Oh, I was just demonstrating a couple takedowns. Don’t worry. I caught him every time so he’s not hurt at all.” Nari grinned, popping back up to her feet and holding out a hand for Taehyung.

“Is everyone fully stretched?”

“Yes sir!” The fourteen idols chorused together.

“Good. The bosses and your bosses are talking it out, but it sounds like they like the idea. They’ll pitch it to the producers of the show.”

“Yay!” Hwayun hopped excitedly.

“Alright, now let’s get to the group performance.”

It wasn’t a particularly hard performance, but it did require the girls and guys to get close. It was a hip hop based dance. A remix of Dance For You by Beyonce was the song the choreographer chose for them. He gave them the basics of the choreography for the first day while he made alterations to better suit all of the performers in the group.

“Coming up for choreography for all of the individual performances will be rough, especially in such a short amount of time.” The man sighed.

“Well, we have some ideas. We are our own choreographers anyway, so we know ourselves the best.” Hwayun offered. “I think a very aggressive performance will be ideal for our dance performance unit. There’s something I’ve been working on with Saera and Nari, actually. We can alter it to fit a partnered concept. Actually, that might be the best way our ideas could be presented.”

“Show us.”

Hwayun played Hey Mama by David Guetta. It was incomplete, but there were major skills being displayed in what they already had. They were incredibly sharp and creative, which the choreographer noted aloud.

“I like it. We can work that around.”

“Great!” Hwayun and Saera were proud that their project was so well-received.

“And for our performance… Well I was really inspired by your epilogue, Young Forever.” Shinji picked at her nails nervously. “We can do a version of it, but with this verse and chorus that I wrote in addition to it.”

“You already wrote it?” Yoongi and Namjoon were surprised to hear this.

“I was really inspired.” Shinji smiled sheepishly. “But we don’t have to use it. I understand that this song and everything about it is so meaningful to you guys so I get it if you don’t want to change it.”

“Nah, we’ll decide after we hear it.”

“Well, I would keep the verses you and Yoongi have at the beginning, but we’ll harmonize. And then there’s a version of the chorus I wrote and then go into a verse Soohae and I will share. We end the song the same way you do in the original. But the chorus and the verse I wrote is open to a rap addition.”

“Let’s hear it then, if you don’t mind.”

Shinji sang the chorus and verse completely acapella. It was clearly based off the original, but took full advantage of her powerful and emotive voice. She had a belting power and range that the boys didn’t have. She softened her voice to sing the parts she wanted Soohae to sing.

“How was that?”

“It was great! You’re so good at singing.” Namjoon praised.

“I should hope so. I’ve been practicing singing for as long as Nari was practicing Taekwondo.” Shinji smiled wryly. “So, do you think we’ll use it?”

“Honestly? Yeah. That was great and everything we’d want in this collaboration performance.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Do you write all the songs for the group?”

“I don’t write all of it, but I contribute a lot. Especially in the arrangement and composition.”

“Huh, this match up keeps making more and more sense.” Namjoon grinned.

“That’s such a compliment. Thank you!”

“Now, doesthe musical group have any ideas?”

“Well, their theme is themselves as performers and their desire to keep doing what they’re doing no matter what.” Areum gestured to the rappers and singers. “Their theme is probably going to be girls versus boys.” Areum nodded over to the dance performance group. “We can go for a cute and refreshing theme.”

“Like Bruno Mars?” Jinhee asked.

“Exactly. We should do a Bruno Mars type of song. Like Marry You. How does that sound?”

“We’ll follow your lead.” Jin smiled.

“Saera, Nari.” Both dancers turned at the sound of their names. Areum smiled sweetly at them. “Can you help me do a translation of Bruno Mars’ Marry You?”

“Sure.” Nari nodded and Saera agreed easily.

“You speak English?” Taehyung looked at Nari in awe. “I knew Saera grew up in the states, but I didn’t know you knew English too.”

“I flew around a lot for competitions.” Nari explained. “I needed to learn how to communicate for myself overseas, so I learned English. I’m not perfectly fluent, but I’m pretty okay.”

“That’s amazing.”

“Super. Awesome.” Areum smirked pointedly at Nari. “Okay, we’ll have it properly translated to Korean and then we can split up the parts between us and work on a little performance to go with it.”

“You girls are so decisive.”

“We look weak and girlish because our esteemed leader is so tough and such a force to be reckoned with. But, we’re not weak. We get things done and support each other. We know our strengths and how to play them up.” Areum smiled sweetly. “We all have individual skills, areas that we handle best.”

“With a leader like that, it rubs off on you.” Shinji joked.

One of the assistant choreographers showed the head choreographer their phone. “They want Taehyung with Nari.”

“What? Why?”

“Apparently there’s a solid fan following for them together.”

“Again. What? Why?”

“I think it’s because we’re friends?” Nari shrugged.

“Well, do you guys mind the change? Jungkook into the musical group, and Taehyung into the dance group? Luckily it was before you really started in on this.”

“I’m fine with it.” Nari and Jungkook nodded. Jinhee just shrugged while Taehyung beamed.

“I can’t do tricks, but I’ll do my best for you.” Taehyung bounded over to Nari and smiled down at her with such sweetness and sincerity that everyone paused to look. She smiled fondly up at him before continuing on her stretches.

“Is… Is there something between you two we should know about?” The choreography blinked between the two uncertainly.

“Nah. We’re just friends.” Nari grinned. “And I think we can play up our differences. The fans seem to really like it anyway.” She turned around and stretched out her shoulders to practice the tricks again. She missed the way Taehyung deflated slightly at her words. No one else missed it though.

He pulled himself back together quickly enough. “Yeah! And I can dance with a fierceness like you! We can totally work with that!”

“Oh really?! Power pair!” She grinned up at him, doing a handstand. “This move, I want you to kinda catch my ankle, and then let me drop and roll down and back up to my feet where you meet me face to face. Can you do that?”

“I’m not the one with my over my head.” He grinned but caught her foot as directed. Her instructions weren’t the clearest because she was still thinking things over, but he always understood her well enough.

“Let me drop after we hit this pose.” The pose was a freeze with her legs crossed in a 4 shape. He let go and she rolled back and up to her feet smoothly where he intercepted her. He got a step too close and she bumped into him. She caught him before he could fall. “Maybe give me a little more space so I don’t hit you? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine!”

“Good. I want to incorporate this move or one like it. It’s playful and the fans like it when we play around with each other.” Nari let go and took a few steps away so she could fix her ponytail. “Let’s learn the rest of the choreography for our unit!”

It took all six days before the performance for them to get it done. They were amazed with literally how much work they got done and were able to memorize with minimal bruising and tears. Every day, both groups took pictures (allowed by both companies and the broadcasting station) and posted it on their SNS with cute captions about how well things were going and how excited they were to show their fans. The videos and pictures that got the most play were the ones where Taehyung and Nari were horsing around either with just each other or with the others. Fans liked how he looked at her and how she looked so much happier and younger around him.

The NaTae (as fans decided to call them) video of their break time cover of Zutter was huge. They were both drenched in sweat, her shirt with the sleeves cut off was nearly completely see-through from her sweat. He wore a black shirt, but it was sticking to him from the sweat too. But they still jumped around the dance practice room during break time to wholeheartedly do the cover. Jimin and Saera recorded the two and posted the pictures and video. Nari teasing him and singing War of Hormone at him in the another video was also incredibly popular. He got so shy and tried to run away, but she followed and screamed the lyrics at him.

“So, does she like you back?” The choreographer and manager had sat him aside one night to ask him.

“I don’t think so.” He sighed. “I’m so obvious. I know I’m so obvious. I’ve been obvious since I first met her in January at the Idol Olympics. And I’m just a friend to her, so you guys have nothing to worry about, if you are worried anyway.”

“We actually were going to tell you that you had our blessing to see her, just secretly of course. We were going to talk to you about the importance of privacy and the best ways to communicate to handle things secretly…”

“Oh, well there’s no need. It’s been almost a whole year since I’ve been panting after her and nothing, so…”

“Have you tried talking to her about how you feel?”

“Why? It’s just as obvious that she doesn’t feel the same way. At least like this I get to be friends with her. I’d rather have that than nothing.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright. As you were then. If… If there’s any progress, just be sure to let us know. We support you, whichever way this goes.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

The performance was in ten minutes and some of them were panicking. Nari was practicing the moves over and over again like a maniac and Taehyung was just watching her worriedly.

“We’re going to do fine! You made us practice so much I almost thought about hating you! That’s really hard to do!”

“To make you hate someone? Yeah, I can imagine. You’re so sweet.” Nari paused with a smile, forcing herself to ease up.

“No, to make me hate you.” Taehyung smiled warmly down at her and passed her a water bottle. “Now be careful. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“That would ruin the performance, wouldn’t it?”

“That would ruin everything. The performance, my day, my week, my month, my year. Don’t get hurt.” He patted her head before running off to help Jimin calm down too. Nari cleared uncomfortably before spotting a staff member struggling to carry some equipment and running to her aid. Taehyung sighed to his group members. “I tell her not to get hurt and she literally runs to go carry heavy equipment.”

“That’s just how she is.” Jimin laughed.

Jungkook nodded. “Isn’t that why you were watching her at first? Because she was helping another group’s fans get some items that they dropped over the railing? We all watched her physically climb the wall to hand back their stuff gently. You’ve had your eye on her since the beginning of the Idol Olympics because she’s annoyingly helpful and sincere.”

“Okay, maybe that’s true.” Taehyung groaned. “But still.”

They were all rounded up to perform their special stage for the winter special, nailing their performances. They opened with Young Forever, which was perfect since the fans got to hear their musical influences and voices together for the first time in truth.

Next was the musical performance which was cavity inducing. They wore pastel colored clothes and rode a vintage bike around the stage. After that was the purely dance performance group. They were sharp and completely in sync. It showcased the true skills of the Canary dancers alongside the ability to have duet performances from the boys.

The final stage was all of them together to perform that group dance that was as playful as it was sensual. The best dancers were in the center as they were the most comfortable getting up close and personal with each other. At one key point in the dance, the boys were pushed back to sit in chair with a simulation from the girls lifting themselves up using the arms of the chairs. The screams when just before then the boys wrapped the girls in their arms and did grinding body waves into them was deafening. It was a y performance that was uncommon from both groups. As the ending sequence, the individual pairs formed a line and did a cute couple-y ending.

Namjoon and Shinji held hands and pressed their foreheads together. Yoongi and Soohae made a heart. Jin and Areum twirled cutely. Jungkook and Jinhee shyly hugged. Jimin teased Saera into pecking his cheek sweetly. Hoseok had Hwayun hop on his back and they ran around screaming excitedly.

Last was the most popular pair, Taehyung and Nari. He knelt down in front of her with a lollipop like a ring for a proposal. She grinned and took the lollipop. He stood back up and took the lollipop to unwrap it for her. He handed it out to her, but just as she was going to grab it, he popped it into his mouth. Her look of shock and betrayal was genuine and everyone laughed. He slung an arm around her smugly and pulled out another lollipop for her from his pocket. She took it, rolling her eyes and unwrapped it herself to eat.

As they were coming off stage, all the pairs were giggling and nearly drunk from the excitement of it all.

“Sorry, I wanted to tease you. You always look so cute when I tease you.” Taehyung smiled sheepishly at his feet, lollipop making a huge lump in his cheek. He ran off when Hoseok called his name.

“He keeps saying things that gets me all out of sorts.” Nari perched herself next to Shinji who toweling her sweat off on the side.

“Do you like him?” Shinji asked bluntly.

“That doesn’t matter. We have too much on our plate to be looking at boys.”

“But do you like him?”

“I don’t know. I like him as a friend certainly, but… I don’t know how we’d work out romantically. I’m… practically a man. No one would really want to date me anyway.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. He’s head over heels in love with you. Has been since he first spoke to you. It’s disgusting to watch you two honestly.”

“What?”

“You seriously can’t tell me you didn’t know.”

“Know?”

“He’s in love with you. Love love. For you. He loves you. A lot.”

“He doesn’t. He’s just really nice.”

“You can’t be that stupid. Everyone knows he’s in love with you. Literally everyone. Even the maknae line backs off to give you two space to talk to each other.”

“No way.”

“If you don’t believe me, ask him.”

“I’m not gonna just ask him, ‘hey, are you in love with me?’”

“Why not? You’re straightforward about literally everything else.”

“Because!”

“Because you’re afraid of the answer. Hm, never pegged our esteemed leader as a coward.”

“This isn’t… I can’t just… Shinji!”

“Look. Don’t be stupid. Talk to him.”

“I can’t! I have to focus on us! Our career! You know relationships are career suicide for people like us! Especially if your fame rests on your appearance and visual and physical appeal to the fans. That’s how it is for me AND him.”

“So, fame wins over love to you?”

“No, our dreams win over a crush to me.”

“I think you’re trivializing it because you’re scared of it being real. But if that works for you, whatever. All the fans already think you two are dating and they ing love it. They like it as much as they like thinking you’re dating Jinhee, and they eat that up. Live your life, but don’t come to me if you regret it. Music is one of the dreams we all share, but the ultimate dream is happiness. Always for happiness.”

“It’s not just that simple.”

“It really is. Sure, everything else is complicated, but this isn’t. Now, you dwell on that while I go make sure the kids aren’t getting up to trouble what with our esteemed leader being distracted by her own inner turmoil.”

And she really was distracted by her thoughts. She went through the motions, but she was only half focused on their surroundings as they moved to the next location.

The two groups went to celebrate a great performance together with a bunch of the other groups at the end of the show. They were in some fancy ballroom at a snazzy hotel in the city. Food and drinks were provided, but Nari made sure none of the girls drank anything she didn’t trust wholeheartedly and always had a buddy from either Canary, Twice, Got7, or BTS since those were the only groups she truly trusted with her girls.

Nari was chatting with someone from Seventeen and Monsta X when she spotted Taehyung playing around with Sungjae, Zico, and a few others she couldn’t recognize from so far away. He caught her eye too and grinned brightly, waving happily though his friends seemed to be teasing him for it.

Nari sighed and excused herself from the conversation. She caught Taehyung’s attention once more, which wasn’t hard because he was always glancing her way it seemed. She was such an oblivious idiot. She nodded to the door before turning to leave through it.

Taehyung was in the middle of talking when he stopped abruptly in surprise. Zico, sitting beside him, saw Nari signalling him and understood immediately. “Go, loverboy. We understand.”

“She d--” He protested.

“She doesn’t see you like that. We know. Just go.” The guys all chorused together. “Whether or not she sees you like that, we all know you like her more than you like us. Get lost.”

“Thanks guys.” He grinned and sprinted after her happily like the puppy he was.

Nari pulled him into an empty stairwell. She listened to hear if anyone was in there and checked for cameras. Sure, hotels like these are incredibly discreet, but she wasn’t going to risk things right then.

“What’s up?” Taehyung asked after she seemed to accept that they were alone and not being watched.

“Are you in love with me?” In true Nari form, she blurted it out.

Taehyung stared at her wide-eyed in a panic, visibly gulping. “W-what?”

“Do you? Love me? In the way couples love each other?”

“I…” Taehyung cleared his throat. “Who told you?”

“Shinji. She said everyone knows.”

“It’s not really a secret. I’m very obvious about it.”

“So you love me.”

“Yeah.”

“I… My priority is the dreams of my band mates. I’m in charge of them. I’m responsible for them.”

“I know. Of course I know that.”

“Why do you even like me? I’m practically a man.”

“I don’t think of you as a man, that’s for sure.” Taehyung grimaced. “And I like you because I like you. You’re kind, you’re pretty, you’re sincere and hardworking, and I just… you never once thought I was weird. You never shied away from me or my habits and questions that people always told me was weird. Sure, people like me because I’m friendly and happy, but they always think I’m a little weird. You didn’t. I’m sorry if my feelings make you uncomfortable. I’m happy just being your friend.”

“Well I’m not.”

“No? Ah. I get it. I’d really rather not lose you as a friend, but I understand.”

“I’m not uncomfortable and I don’t want to just be your friend.” She sighed. “I like you too.”

“You do? This isn’t just you pitying me?”

“No. I wouldn’t do something like that. That’s just cruel. I like you too. You didn’t think I was weird either, and you make me really happy. And god, sometimes the way you look at me makes me weak in the knees.”

“It does?”

“It does.”

“So this isn’t just one-sided.”

“No.”

“You like me.”

“I like you. A lot.”

Taehyung stepped forward to get into her space. She didn’t back away. He leaned in to kiss her, and when she didn’t dodge him, he just blinked at her in shock. “You’ll really let me kiss you?”

“God, you’re so cute.” Nari groaned and pulled him by the collar to kiss him.

He responded quickly enough, no longer wasting time by questioning it. He pushed her back against the wall with hands on her waist and back. He relished in the way her arms wrapped themselves around his neck and how she arched her back to match how he curved over her. He lifted her up and she instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist. He moaned into when she raked her nails on his scalp. There was something about her strong body underneath his fingertips that made him ache for more of her. It was always like that. Even just patting her strong shoulder made him itch to hold her more.

The door to the stairwell opened and in came Zico and Minho looking for him because he forgot his phone with them and they were heading out anyway.

“Whoa-hey!”

“Oh my god.” Taehyung let Nari drop back to her own feet and tried to put some space between them for decency’s sake.

“Is this her not ‘seeing you that way’?” Zico scoffed.

“Oh my god, did everyone seriously know?” Nari gaped at Taehyung, mildly horrified.

“I told you. I was really obvious. I think you’re literally the only person who didn’t know I’ve been in love with you for forever.”

“Wait, you really didn’t know?” Minho gaped at Nari now. “It was so obvious we didn’t know what to do or how to react on set. And then you protected him and got hurt and no one could even look at you two because it was just so personal and intimate. I thought surely there had to be something. But then Taehyung was super sad because you ‘didn’t like him like that’.”

“Oh my god, everyone knew.” Nari whined and buried her face into his shoulder.

Taehyung grinned down at her and looked over to his friends and mouthed ‘isn’t she so cute?’ “Yeah, everyone knows I’m stupidly in love with you. Is that a problem?”

“Not… Not like that. I don’t know how to act in these situations.”

“Just be you.” He shrugged. “If they didn’t pity me because I thought you didn’t like me, then they thought we were already together.”

Nari nodded and bowed to the two sunbaes. “I’m sorry for showing you such an inappropriate side of me.” She felt her warm cheeks with her hands.

“Apologize for making our boy pant after you for so long.” Zico snorted. “Now go head back before people really get suspicious.” Zico handed Taehyung’s phone over to him. “We’re heading out now. Don’t worry. No one will hear anything from us until after you guys make it official. Then, I might even write a song about this.” He teased.

“Not if Shinji doesn’t write one about it first.” Nari suddenly paled. “Oh my god. The girls.” She covered her face to muffle her screams into her hands.

Taehyung panicked. What if they didn’t approve of him? “What? What about them?”

“Areum’s been teasing me about you since January. She’s NEVER going to let me live this down! No amount of Leader authority or Taekwondo will protect me from her.”

“Might also want to wipe the lipstick off your faces.” Minho added helpfully while following Zico out.

Taehyung and Nari looked at each other’s faces and broke into a fit of giggles while wiping their mouths with the back of their hands. When they were deemed suitable to go out into the public again, Nari handed him one of the rings she always wore on her middle finger. “Here. Wear this.”

He wore it obediently, “What’s this?”

“My mom’s a romantic and bought me and my siblings rings when we turned 20 to wear until we find someone we think we’re meant to be with. She also bought rings for close cousins of ours. She bought the girls rings to fit our middle fingers and boys rings to fit their pinky fingers. Does it fit?”

It fit his ring finger just fine. He showed it off to her proudly. “So, does this mean I’m yours?”

“Yes. I’m gonna use that to kinda show the girls that… well I guess what they all were expecting has come true…”

“I don’t have anything like that.” Taehyung pouted.

“Don’t worry about it. Just go sit with the girls and show them the ring. I’ll go to the boys.”

“Oh, you tell my friends and I tell yours?”

“Yeah.”

“I can live with that.”

They entered at different times, but sat down with each other’s friends across the room from each other at the same time. Taehyung jumped into a conversation easily enough with them, and Nari took some of Jimin’s snacks.

Jimin noticed the missing ring on her finger due to the tan line. “Oh! Did you lose your ring! You always wear it. Do you remember when you last had it? Should we ask a staff member for help finding it?”

“Nah. I gave it to Taehyung. I guess you could say I channeled Beyonce…”

They stared at her in dead silence for a moment before Yoongi broke it first. “That’s how you tell us the news?” Hoseok jumped up and started screaming happily for them though nothing he was saying was at all intelligible.

“Yeah. I just sent Taehyung over there wearing my ring to see how long it takes for them to notice and get mad at me.” Nari grinned mischievously.

“HA NARI!” They turned when the girls from Canary all screamed the name of their leader in unison.

“There it is.” Nari chuckled.

“THIS IS HOW YOU TELL US?! GET BACK HERE YOU COWARD!”

Nari laughed and started running away.

“I called it!” Areum clapped herself on the back proudly.

“I’m the one who got her head on straight about this.” Shinji smirked.

Taehyung grinned and ran to catch up with her. “Did they get it?”

“Yeah.” Nari laughed.

“What now?”

“We get to do all the things together that we stupidly thought the other didn’t want. Also, I need to get into acting. Apparently I did a great job if no one suspected me.”

He pouted at her, “Too good of a job. If you were more obvious, we wouldn’t have waste so much time.”

“I don’t think of it as a waste. I gained a boyfriend out of my best friend instead of simply a colleague. Plus, time’s never wasted when I’m with you.”

“You’re right. But… time would have been better spent kissing. Just saying.”

She snorted, “Agree to disagree?”

“Agreed, my princess.”

“Princess?”

“Yeah. Just you wait. I’m about to treat you like a queen. Prepare yourself to get wooed like nobody’s business.”

Nari grinned up at him, “I eagerly await, my prince.”