Sky’s POV

Screaming continued even when I went off-stage. I was sweating and breathing like I’d finished a marathon and I was not in my right mind.

My heart was pounding too fast to be human, my soul had been left back on stage, and my mind was totally above the clouds somewhere.

“Sky?”

Just give me a moment. A moment, please. To catch my breath.

 “Here”, a bottle of water appeared in front of me. I grasped it and downed it all in one gulp. I handed it back, looking at the person who’d given it to me.

It was Eun Suk, dressed casually as she wasn’t performing today. But this was how I preferred her, no make-up, hair in a messy ponytail, a sweater and jeans.

“You were amazing out there”, Eun Suk told me and laughed a little, “Way to make the rest of us nervous.”

Suddenly, I was breathless for a totally different reason, her laughing face, her smile… so beautiful.

I shook myself out of it, trying to restart my heart. C’mon. She’s the girl who annoys you to no end… she smokes and drinks, she curses, she isn’t dependable or pretty…

I went to the dressing room and washed my face and shrugged off my stage costume, dressing into jeans and a sweater and a hat.

“Come on, it’s Jason’s turn now”, she took my hand in hers and dragged me up the stairs. Without thinking, I ripped my hand out of hers. If she touches me now, I might not be able to help myself. I might do something stupid.

She seemed slightly hurt but didn’t say anything as she led me to the top floor where the rest of Universe were waiting to see Jason, except Shim Jang and Shin, who were also performing today. And…

“Where’s Chan Hee?” I asked.

Eun Suk seemed to stiffen but didn’t reply.

Instead, Kyuhyun said, “She went to go visit Shin in the waiting room to give him… support.” He laughed slightly, “Our leaders are getting real friendly, yeah?”

Soo Ri smacked him in the back of his head and said, “You think so dirty!” Kyuhyun just shrugged her away, but when Soo Ri turned back around, Kyuhyun’s eyes flickered towards her and he smiled slightly. Seems like our leaders weren’t the only ones getting close.

Jason appeared on stage and we cheered loudly for him, clapping and waving our hands in the air. He saluted us and then the music for his song began- and stopped- just as he hit his first note. His note hung awkwardly in the air as the background music stuttered and faltered again. In the upper box, we all looked at each other, shocked, this never happened. The music started playing again, but with a ton of static. Jason just looked up at the speakers curiously, like he was examining an interesting piece of art. He wasn’t even mad.

But then the music crackled out completely and it was totally silent. Oh …

Suddenly, a small figure ran out onto the stage, carrying a guitar… Shin’s guitar… what…?

“It’s Shim Jang!” Soori, who was half out of her seat, whispered, pointing.

Jason hesitated and then he began to strum the chords to his song… and he started to sing…

“Sing” I said suddenly, somehow knowing that that was the right thing to do, “Sing, guys, c’mon!” And with that I raised my voice and started singing with him.

The others paused before Soori broke out into song, and the rest of us joined him. Then the crowd slowly started joining, more and more, until everyone was singing. Jason started really feeling the beat, rocking back and forth as he sang. The crowd started to clap alone and Jason started to smile; he walked to the edge of the stage and sat down, really making the crowd feel like this was a song personally for them. They absolutely loved it. When the song ended with Jason’s sweet voice hitting the last note, they went absolutely wild, screaming and cheering. Jason took an exaggerated bow and grinning sheepishly, twirled femininely before he disappeared backstage.

Soori, who was standing, let out a sigh of relief for her brother and collapsed in her chair.

There was a brief moment where the technicians came out to adjust the speakers before it was Shim Jang’s turn. The music blasted out and she began her infamous “pelvic” dance and Soo Ri whistled softly and said, “ I notice her growing every day, but when did she grow up like that?”

“I know, but look at how serious she is!” Gongchan laughed a little, “She’s so different from the cute Shim Jang I know who’s addicted to boba and cake.”

“Hey, you’re the maknae too”, Kyuhyun reminded Gongchan, ruffling his hair. Gongchan scowled.

GD came out then to rap briefly and when Shim Jang came back out, rain begin to pour from the stage and sparks shot off from the back of the stage. She looked so awesome, dancing so freely in all the water, pouring around her, whipping her hair back and forth. And she really had matured- her body, her voice, her dancing, her very presence, all of it. It was amazing and I found myself earnestly in awe of her as I clapped for her at the end. There was something special about Shim Jang, even out of Universe… she was always the one who showed a little more on stage than in practice- not because she was lazy but because she sincerely loved performing more than anyone else. Loving performing is different from loving music, and Shim Jang really embodied that aspect. I whistled for her as she bowed and waved before leaving the stage.

It was f(x) next and Kyuhyun clapped loudly for Krystal and Victoria. I shouted out Amber’s name to cheer her on. They were amazing as well; their vocals had really improved and Amber’s dancing really stood out to me.

And then it was JiHyun’s stage. The background changed to a soft starry night sky and JiHyun sat on a chair and pulled the stand-up microphone close to him. He began to strum his guitar and then, a deep breath, and he began to sing. His voice was so… so warm, so tender, it caressed every word… I felt myself begin to shiver as his feelings resonated within me… some feeling of… longing… sorrow… JiHyun closed his eyes and it felt like he’d completely forgotten he was performing. It was like we were reading his personal journal. His voices pulled at my emotions; so soft, yet so powerful… He hit the last three chords but his eyes remained closed until the crowd’s cheering grew so loud. He seemed almost to wake up and smiled and bowed before leaving the stage. I looked around me; everyone seemed starstruck, Kyuhyun’s mouth was open in awe.

 “Wow, tell them congratulations, will you? I’ve got to go to rehearsal. My musical opens in two days” Gongchan said, and after giving each of us a hug, promptly sprinted out the door.

“You have to get down, too” Eun Suk reminded me, “For the awards stage.”

I nodded and made my way down where I bumped into Amber, whom I hugged comfortably and G-Dragon, who I walked to the stage with. 2NE1 finished their stage, followed by 2pm and Busker Busker, and then it was the awards stage.

I made my way up the crowded stage and managed to find myself a spot in the back where Shin, Jason, and Shim Jang were. The three finalists were announced: Shin and Shim Jang, of course, and for some miraculous reason: me. My eyebrows raised as Wooyoung and Junho pushed me to the front of the stage. The crowd began protesting that Jason wasn’t up there only because of technical difficulties, but Jason smiled and waved off their protests. My heart thundered though I knew there wasn’t any way for me to win against these two. Sure enough, Shin had beaten Shim Jang by 20 points and me by 50. I shook my head, but couldn’t help but smile. Shin really had been absolutely amazing. The boy with really nothing but the guitar and his own voice could beat the entire world. I smiled and hugged him and for his encore stage, he forced me, Shim Jang, and Jason to stay on stage and sing with him.

We got home around 3am, exhausted. I started to throw off my clothes as usual, when suddenly, hypersensitive that Eun Suk was in the same room as me, I couldn’t help but feel… shy? Was I feeling shy?

“Something wrong?” Eun Suk asked me, for I’d frozen with my sweatshirt half-off and my arms above my head.

“Are you stuck? Here, let me help” Eun Suk said, coming over to help pull off my sweater.

I can’t handle her being close right now! “No” I said, awkwardly jerking my sweater back on, “I just- it’s colder than I thought, that’s all, I-no, thanks.”

“Ookkay” Eun Suk said, backing off, “I’ll turn on the heater then…”

“No” I protested, and groaned inside when she gave me a confused look, like she was saying “what the hell do you want?”

“I just need to take a shower” I mumbled, running into the bathroom before she could say or do anything else.

What the hell is wrong with me?  I wondered as I let the refreshing water wash over me.

Kyuhyun’s POV

The days passed quickly; each day so busy that all you had time to do was think of what you had to in that moment, but the moments lengthened into days, weeks, months.

Jaesun’s run at MC had ended for now, though he had plans to host a new variety show next spring. Gongchan’s musical had been an absolutely huge hit, capitulating all five main actors (the lady and the four men) into fame in the theatre world. Gongchan had signed onto two other musicals. JiHyun had absolutely become the poster boy for Korea as “the rather manly and handsome but still too-pretty flower boy” with his new drama role. His crying scene had been labeled as one of the best emotional works in all of Korean drama and his kiss scene on a rooftop in the rain with Shin Se Kyung, which Chan Hee had refused to watch, was voted by netizens as the hottest kiss comparable to those of Boys Over Flowers, City Hunter, and Coffee Prince. The director begged JiHyun to become the lead for his next drama “This Winter The Wind Blows”.

Days passed and Soo Ri became known throughout Europe for their modeling work and Soori was termed the new OST queen with Baek Ji Young and Taeyeon for her amazing voicework for drama soundtracks.

Weeks passed and we celebrated Shim Jang’s birthday.

Life went on as normal, and I generally felt very happy. At night, in our bedroom, Soo Ri and I would always play some kind of logic game before we slept, and I started to teach her on how to memorize things quickly. I helped her begin to create her own “mind setting”, which is a memory technique that utilizes visualization to help you remember whatever you want. And just for the hell of it, she would quiz me on random trivia questions of the world- like crossword questions, and see how many I could answer in a minute. My worst (a particularly difficult one about the preferences of female fashion) was 11 answers, my best (the capitals of the world and international alliances) was 73 correct answers. She was very quick and clever, and more importantly, she always made me laugh.

So its hard to pinpoint the moment where it all began but maybe, maybe it began when a sasaeng fan stalked us back to our dorm and discovered that we all lived together.

a/n: pretty short, i know, but i'll post the next chapter in a couple days. (:

but THANK YOU so much for all the acceptance and love. and THANKS for waiting. seriously, the fact that you guys are still up for reading this fanfic makes you all angels. <3 thank you, thank you, thank you.

"sasaeng fan" is essentially an overly obssessed fan who interferes with a celebrity's private everyday life. and yes, "mind palace" is a reference to bbc sherlock holmes. hehe. :]

i hope your days are filled with delicious drinks, satisfying weather, genuine laughter, beautiful sunsets, and good company!