Gongchan’s POV

I really cannot stay up past midnight.

I remember JiHyun replying to me. Well then, you’re giving up.

So I stayed and continued studying the various keys of the musical.

I’m not exactly sure when my words started slurring together and when my blinks became minutes long, but I do remember hearing one of the female members gasp and scold JiHyun.

“You’re expecting him to go out and try out for Dream Team 3 like this!? He’s never going to make it!”

“Sorry”, I faintly heard JiHyun reply, “But I’ll rely on you to help him. You’re doing the Couple Race with him, right? Hwaiting!~”

Somebody else said to, “Come on, then”, and I was guided to the door. The instant I was in my seat, I was totally out.

……

……

I came to a little while later, to see Soori peering into my face, slapping me gently.

“Come on, Gongchan… we have to go now…”

“WhereamIat?”, I struggled to stand as Soori grabbed my long arms and dragged me out of the car.

“We’re at Daegu for the Dream Team 3 try-outs. We’re doing the Couple Race, remember? And Chan Hee and Eun Suk are doing Individual Races…”

I nodded my head slowly before I collapsed and drooped onto Soori, my head on her shoulder.

“Um…”, I heard her say uncomfortably, before she sighed and hoisted me to where everyone was getting ready.

She set me gently onto a chair where I fell back, completely and utterly exhausted.

I vaguely heard Soori say, “How am I supposed to race with Gongchan when he’s totally knocked out?”

“Get his attention somehow…”, Chan Hee advised.

“How?”, Soori asked.

“Um…What about getting him candy? Uh… Pocky sticks?”, Eun Suk suggested.

“Pocky?”, I murmured. Food did sound good, I thought, especially as I hadn’t eaten anything this morning.

“Yeah…”, Eun Suk’s voice sounded closer… , “Gongchan, you want some Pocky sticks? How about some Coke?”

“It’s 7am in the morning!”, Chan Hee berated, but I muttered, “That… sounds… wonderfullllll.”

“Okay, I’m going to run and get some before the recording starts, then”, I heard Soori say, and there was a rustling sound as she dashed off to find a nearby convenience store.

Zzzzzzzzzz.

Soori’s POV

I was just about to leave the main Dream Team grounds when someone grabbed my arm.

Startled, I instinctively started to push and punch.

I felt strong arms embrace me and I found myself against someone’s well-formed chest.

Oh my god, am I getting kidnapped?

“Wait, stop! Soori! Soori! It’s me…”

That voice… I know that voice anywhere…

“Junho… oppa?”

“Yeah, it’s me. What are you getting so worked up for?”

He’s still holding me. He’s still hugging me…

“I-I thought I was going to get kidnapped”, I replied, trying to stop the blush rising across my face.

I heard Junho scoff and reply, “Silly. Who would want to kidnap you?”

What!? I pushed Junho off of me in an instant and started to stomp towards in the opposite direction.

He grabbed my arm again, “Aw, don’t be mad. It was just a joke, Soori.”

“Anyways, where are you going?”, he asked, half-jogging to keep pace with me.

Hm… I can use him to my advantage here. Heehee.

“Junho oppa, you have your wallet, right?”

He suddenly stopped keeping pace with me and instead cautiously said, “Don’t tell me your going to make me buy you snacks again.”

I smiled brightly and said, “Of course. Ten boxes of Pocky and six Cokes.”

“Not again”, he groaned.

“Fine, I’m not going to forgive you about that stupid remark you made about no one wanting to kidnap me”, I said, over-acting how upset I really was, and I started to stomp away again, when I felt Junho tugging at my arm once again.

“Fine, I’ll pay”, Junho replied, sighing.

“But how come whenever we’re together, we’re always running somewhere and how come I always pay?”, Junho asked, as we set off down the street together.

“That’s true…”, I admitted, and then I unknowingly found myself saying, “Junho oppa, do you want to go somewhere with me just for fun? I’ll pay.”

“Sure, where, though?”, Junho asked me as he opened the door to the store for me.

We both instinctively pulled our hoods over our faces so as not to get caught.

“Hm… amusement park?”, I suggested, trying tell myself not to get my hopes up. He’s just going to say no. He’s just going to say-

“Sounds good. Text me time and date later, okay?”, Junho responded, picking up ten boxes of Pocky.

Wahhhhhhhh.

“Yeah”, I said calmly, trying to keep my heart from bursting.

Chan Hee’s POV

I was scanning the list of people here trying out for Dream Team when two names caught my eye- Chanyeol of Exo K, LuHan of Exo M.

!!! They’re here! My brother’s here! LuHan!

I immediately got up.

“Where are you going?”, Eun Suk asked me as I started racing out.

“Stay with Gongchan, okay? I need to go see someone!”

I scanned the various tents as I sprinted by, but none of them seemed like-

!!! I saw Chanyeol! I just- right there!

I bounded all the way to the tent camped to the far right and without warning, charged right in.

I threw my arms around my brother and yelled, “OPPA!”

“Chan Hee?”, Chanyeol asked, dazed and trapped in my grip.

“CHAN HEE!”, LuHan had just entered the tent, but upon seeing me, had dropped the pile of jackets he’d been carrying and flung his arms around me.

“Hey, LuHan, get off my sister!”, Chanyeol yelled and aggressively grabbed LuHan by his belt loop and dragged him off me. I caught a glimpse of LuHan’s adorable angel face before I turned to my brother.

“I really missed you, and I heard Exo’s doing amazing. Congratulations!”

Chanyeol smiled and said, “We’re top competitors for the Rookie Prize, so I guess we’re going against each other as top kpop idols.”

Chanyeol’s smile faded slightly as he continued, “I saw the video message you sent me… you’re that homesick?”

“Not homesick”, I corrected, “but I miss seeing my stupid brother!”

Chanyeol smiled again and embraced me, and I closed my eyes. I really miss this kid.    

“We said we’d be top, remember? And we are”, Chanyeol told me, patting my back.

I forced a smile onto my face and pulled away before I started crying.

I nodded and then turned away from my brother before he could see my true emotions.

I turned to LuHan, the one person who could always make me smile no matter what I was feeling.

“I’m going to be out there supporting you!”, LuHan told me, a wide grin on his face.

I picked up a water bottle and started drinking from it as LuHan continued talking.

“I’m going to cheer you on and yell really loudly, “I LOVE CHAN HEE.”

I choked and spit when he yelled “I LOVE CHAN HEE”, and my brother shouted, “HEY!” and tackled LuHan to the ground.

What did he just say?

“Chan Hee!”, LuHan yelled from the ground, covering his face as my brother performed a karate kick on his , “I love you!”

I just blushed, but inside, I was feeling the sorrow melting away and a deep warmth blossomed in my heart.

Eun Suk’s POV

I was just staring dreamily outside our tent when Gongchan woke up. He got up and unsteadily wobbled around for a few minutes before he said, “Eun Suk. I’m sleepy.”

I resisted the urge to ask if he was drunk as well and instead replied, “I know.”

“I want candy.”

“Soori ran to get some for you”, I replied, standing up and walking up to Gongchan.

“I want… Pocky….” Suddenly, Gongchan’s eyes slid shut.

!!!

I instinctively put my arms out in front of me, but I didn’t actually expect him to fall!

But he did, straight into my arms and on my shoulder.

“Gongchan”, I said, “Gongchan, are you okay?”

“Suh…leeeping…”, he  muttered, nestling his head into the crook of my neck.

“That’s great, but Gongchan, you’re really heavy”, I replied, starting to gasp from lack of air.

“Gongchan…”, I muttered as my legs started to give out. I’d put him on the chair, but he was leaning straight on me, making it difficult to do anything but support him.

“Gongchan, come on, move!”, I yelled in frustration as I hoisted him up to prevent him from falling straight onto to the ground.

Suddenly, I felt the weight become a ton lighter and Gongchan was lifted off of me.

I just sat on the floor, exhausted from holding Gongchan up in such an awkward position for so long of a time.

“You okay?”

I looked up to see who’d helped me, expecting Soori or Chan Hee, but I found myself looking at an exceptionally gorgeous boy whom I’d daydreamed about a bit too much…

Whoa… it’s Kim Myungsoo.

Mute, I just nodded my head like a bobblehead.

“Here, let me help you up”, Myungsoo said and pulled me up, one hand holding mine, and the other around my waist.

This is like our photoshoot…

“Are you okay?”, I asked Myungsoo as we both took seats under the tent.

“What do you mean?”, Myungsoo asked.

“At the photoshoot… I don’t know if you remember, but…”,

“Oh, that. Actually, I meant to apologize to you for that…”

“What? No… it wasn’t your fault! It’s not like you did it on purpose.”

“Thanks, but I probably frightened you quite a bit. I should have contacted you after telling you I was all right.”

“I did worry… a bit”, I replied, hesitant to say so.

There was silence for a moment and then Myungsoo replied, “I-

“Hey, Myungsoo! Get on over here! The recording’s going to start in twenty!”, Infinite leader’s Sunggyu yelled.

“Well, good luck then”, I said, standing up with him.

“You too. I’ll be rooting for you. And take care of this kid”, Myungsoo said, pointing at Gongchan knocked out on the chair, “He’s my best friend.”

“Pocky!”, Gongchan yelled in his sleep and turned over in his chair.

Myungsoo and I grinned at each other before Myungsoo was abruptly dragged out of the tent by all of the Infinite boys.

Jaesun’s POV

Soo Ri and I were set to go on Strong Heart. The other guests were: Yiruma, Jonghyun of SHINee, Sulli of f(x), Taecyeon of 2pm, Jinwoon of 2am, Zelo of B.A.P., Changmin of DBSK, and Yoona of SNSD.

Backstage, I was listening to Yiruma hyung, who was proposing the idea of setting lyrics to his two most popular songs, Kiss the Rain and River Flows in You. He was asking Universe to write and sing the lyrics and obviously, he’d provide the background music… It sounded like a wonderful idea, although I was afraid of trying to edit such an amazing piano piece. One wrong step and we’d have hundreds of anti-fans…

“Sounds cool, hyung. Come by the studio later tonight and we’ll see what we can do.”

From outside we could hear the MC yell, “Introducing to you our guests tonight!”

Everyone trooped outside in a single-file line and we took our seats. I was sitting between Soo Ri and Jonghyun. I shot Jonghyun a silly face as I took my seat. In reply, Jonghyun made a monkey face. I laughed. I miss my hyungs… it’s been way too long since I saw Ruma hyung or Jonghyun hyung.

The show started with Yoona telling a story about her role in “Love Rain” opposite Jang Geun  Seuk, and continued with Sulli of f(x), who told a story about an extreme fan encounter last week.

And then the MC introduced my story by reading what I’d written on my whiteboard.

“I’ve had more boyfriends than my sisters…?”

I nodded my head and replied, “Yep”.

“But your sisters are the famous Jung sisters, right? Soori, Krystal, and Jessica? How can you possibly have more boyfriends than the three of them?”

“Because”, I replied, “I can be both a Jung sister and a Jung brother.”

“Huh?”, the people around me said.

“So you’re not a boy?”, Jonghyun asked from beside me. I whacked his knee hard before I continued, “Think of it this way. When you play soccer, it’s useful to have an attacker. But it’s more useful to have someone who can attack and goal keep at the same time.”

Sulli suddenly started laughing and she said, “So you can prevent your sisters from having boyfriends and get them yourself?”

I nodded and said, “Exactly. When all four of us were young teenagers, maybe thirteen years old… my sisters were at the age where they liked to play dress up. I didn’t really mind, so they used to dress me up and we’d go to the shopping center or to the grocery store or something.”

“You didn’t care that you were dressed like a girl?”, the MC asked, incredulously.

I shook my head and honestly replied, “No. I’ve never really minded that kind of stuff. It doesn’t really matter. Anyways, so we went to the super market once and my sister Jessica and I were walking down the aisle, picking out food. Suddenly, this boy who’s around our age keeps trailing us. My sister doesn’t notice because she’s always absorbed in talking… so she’s yapping away and this boy keeps following us… And it’s when my sister leans down to get the orange juice that I realize the boy is totally checking my sister out!” 

Taecyeon and Jonghyun both laughed at my disgusted facial expression when I said I realized that the boy was checking out my sister.

“I can’t have such a erted guy asking for my sister’s number. So I brightly called, “Oppa!” and grabbed his arm. The guy was startled and I expected him to be like, “Who the hell are you?”, but the moment he saw me, he said, “Yes, my dear?” 

“Wow, that’s a total ert!”, Yiruma said, laughing.

“Now”, I continued, “Inside, I’m thinking, this guy is a real, legitimate, hands-down creeper. But my sister’s still over there, talking to herself and picking out juice, so I just said to him, “Oppa, I really need to tell you something” and he followed me outside. Once we were outside, he says, “Do you want to date me?” and I faked it and said, “Yes, you’re my boyfriend now. I was planning on just leaving him outside and going in, but he suddenly grabs my hand and asks me for my number.”
“What did you do?”, the MC asked.

I looked straight at the camera and said promptly, “Kicked him in the balls.” 

The place erupted in laughter and the MC summed up, “So that’s how you played attacker and goalie.”

I nodded my head and then said, “I actually never told Jessica this. Sorry, noona. But this has happened at least six or seven times if you count all of my sisters. So, truthfully speaking, I have six or seven boyfriends out there somewhere.”

The MC laughed and asked me, “Do you have anything to say to them now?”

I faced the camera, pouted cutely, waved, and said, “Annnyeonnnggg, yeobo (my dear).”

Soo Ri’s POV

Jaesun was a really good storyteller… I was feeling nervous now, realizing I had to talk right after Jaesun…. But I took a deep breath and collected myself together as the MC said, “Now, AN-sshi. What does your whiteboard say? “You have to go up to go up”?”

I nodded my head and said, “Yes, this is my story for today.”

“Who does it concern?”, the MC asked.

“It concerns a member in our group.”

“Who?”

“You’ll see”, I said, smiling.

“Jason-sshi, do you know?”, the MC asked, but Jaesun shook his head. He really didn’t know… only Soori and Gongchan knew because I’d practiced in front of them.

 “Okay, go ahead, tell us!”, the MC encouraged.

“So, for our song, Troublemaker, we have a poll on our website that allows fans to pick the couples they want to see dance together. We’ve had King and Shin, Chan Hee and Jin, and so on. But one day, the couple was me and Sky oppa!  And honestly, Sky oppa is the one I felt distanced from the most. I’ve never been really comfortable with guys, but Jason, King, and Shin are very easy-going and easy to talk to and I got to know Kyuhyun because we constantly modeled together, but Sky is more the independent and quiet type and I never really talked to him. Well, the dance is kind-of intimate so I was getting really nervous. I told King, “He’s always so cool and calm and collected. I feel like I’m eight next to him. How am I supposed to perform with just him?” And King looked at me seriously and he said, “You’re nervous because you think he’s so perfect?” I said, “Yes.” So King puts his hands on my shoulders and says, “You have to go up to go up.”

“What the hell does that mean?”, Jinwoon asked, behind me.

“That’s exactly what I said!”, I continued, “And King said, “You have to experience hardships to become a better person. Sky had to go up to go up too.” I’m still confused so I said, “How did Sky go up?” King started laughing and he said, “Sky’s vocal range only went up when he went up.” So King took me to his room and started to play a DVD.”      

I cued for the person to start the DVD and it began to play on the large screen.

“Hyung, you sure you aren’t scared? I mean, this is the highest roller coaster in Korea… You can just start screaming if you’re scared…”, Gongchan said, amused at how tightly Sky hyung was gripping the side handles.

“I’m not going to scream, Gongchan. I’m completely fine. I’m not afraid”, Sky said, try to sound nonchalant by scoffing.

Gongchan was trying really hard not to smile, but as he saw the man start the countdown, he couldn’t resist but say, “Sky hyung, you sure you’re okay? Once this thing starts, you can’t get off…”

“Obviously”, Sky hyung said. His knuckles were turning white. “Gongchan, (4) I keep (3) telling you (2) that I’m (1) not (0) scccccccccccccccccAAAAREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDD AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Gongchan was laughing his head off, sounding like a total maniac. The people sitting in front of them were probably more scared of Gongchan and Sky than the roller coaster itself.

But Gongchan had to give it to Sky hyung; his scream blew through three octaves like it was nothing. Quite an impressive vocal range.

The wind was rushing by and Sky’s screams and Gongchan’s laughter went up and down as the roller coaster also went up, down, upside-down, and around.

And then the ride was over.

Sky was so dazed, his eyes glazed over. He swayed as he climbed out unsteadily. Gongchan grabbed his arm and pulled him in the right direction, laughing again. Sky’s hair was hilariously pushed back and standing on end. As Sky regained his senses, he said to the maknae in a serious tone, “Gongchan. This never happened, okay?”

Gongchan just grinned, his eyes innocent and wide, and then he slowly pointed to a nearby stall, which featured a poster that said, “Buy your captured video for everlasting memories today!”

Sky just closed his eyes in defeat and shambled along as Gongchan dragged him towards the stall.

Everyone was in tears and hysterically laughing by the end of Sky’s screaming video.

“And this video was what made me able to dance with Sky onstage”, I said.

“And how did you feel? Nervous?”, the MC asked.

 “Not a bit. Not after seeing Sky oppa go up like that”, I answered, laughing.

“You should call Sky”, Jaesun suggested, “And tell him you showed this video on national t.v.”

Slightly nervous about how Sky would react, I called him with a slight feeling of fear.

“Hello?”, Sky’s voice rang out in the studio.

“Sky oppa… it’s AN. Um… I showed your roller coaster video on Strong Heart…”

“WHAT!?”

“Sorry!”, I yelled, flustered, “I didn’t have anything else to talk about.”

On the other line, you could hear someone, probably JiHyun, hysterically laughing, and Sky was whining, “My image! My imageeeee……..”

“Oppa, sorry!”, I shouted again.

There was a moment of silence and then Sky said, “All right, AN. But, in return, you better win this episode of Strong Heart and hang that medal in my room. And destroy that DVD after, okay?”

“Neh”, I replied, obedient.

“All right, I forgive you…”, Sky answered and then he said, “Oh, and if you happen to see King before he comes home… do me a favor and tell him he’s totally and utterly dead for me, yeah?”

And he closed his phone with a snap*.

Everyone was laughing at Sky’s sudden bomb at the end of the conversation, but no one was enjoying this threat more than Jaesun.

I sighed, but couldn’t help but laugh as well. 

a/n: i know it was suppoused to be star king instead of strong heart. i'm sorry. if you really want to go on star king, just let me know. next is running man, im2, and star golden bell.

i hope you guys remember the video... it was from pre-debut. ^^