“MOMMY! Seunghyun is stealing my undies!” Minhwan burst into Hongki’s bedroom.

            …Except Hongki wasn’t there.

            “Mommy?” Minhwan asked, looking around. He looked under the sheets and under the bed (seriously, baby?), but he still couldn’t find him.

            “Seunghyunnie? Have you seen my mom?” He asked the other boy.

            Seunghyun, who had already finished putting on some boxers that happened to be the other maknae’s, pulled his head out of the drawers to look at Minhwan. “No, sorry, Minhwannie.”

            “Oh. Okay, I guess.”

            “So, you’re in this… competition too?” Key asked, looking at Jonghun.

            Hongki had all but dragged his leader to SHINee’s dorm, stormed into their apartment and screamed his guts out (no surprise here) until all the members from SHINee had appeared.

            “I thought we had already said that?” Taemin asked, smiling innocently, which didn’t fit the way he was moving his hand on Minho’s thigh, inching upwards. “Yes, Umma, we’re all in this competition. Well, except Onew-hyung, who is always the lucky one."

            “Do not talk to me like that, mister. Just because you got a boyfriend doesn’t mean you get to be all sassy now.” Key diva-ed.

“Sorry” Taemin muttered. He might be Changmin and Kyuhyun’s new favorite dongsaeng and a new evil maknae in the making, but… Key is scary.

“So will someone tell me what this competition is about?” Jonghun inquired.

“Apparently,” Onew answered, “we will have seven boy-couples competing against each other for some weeks to be the Best Idol Boy-Couple. Or so it says here” he added, pointing at the paper with all the information.

“And do we know who else is going to be competing?” Jonghyun asked.

“Actually, we do.” Onew said. “Let’s see…”

“Wait a second. Why do we even have to agree to do this?” Minho asked, holding Taemin’s wrist at a PG-13 distance from his crotch.

“Why do you even care? Wouldn’t you like to be able to act as a couple without having to hide, even if it’s just for some weeks?” Jonghyun said, forgetting that Hongki and Jonghun were even there. They weren’t supposed to know about Taemin and Minho’s relation (not that Taemin was doing anything to hide it).

“Wait, what do you mean?” Hongki asked in surprise. “Are you two together?” He pointed at the youngest two of the group.

“Dude, did you really not see Taemin molesting Minho just now?” Jonghun turned to his band mate. “Wasn’t that hard to notice”.

“Well, excuse me if I was dividing my attention between my baby Minhwan sending me texts because your boy is annoying him again and this” He grabbed the paper from Onew’s hands “being sorted out”.

“In other words, no, he didn’t notice.” Key said with an amused smile.

“Well, yes. We are together. In that way, yes.” Minho said.

...

“You’re -buddies?” Hongki exclaimed, jumping out of the armchair he was seated in.

“What?” Taemin shouted. “No, idiot! He’s my boyfriend!” He said angrily, folding his arms. Minho reached out his hand and rubbed the maknae’s arm to calm him down.

Hongki sighed, looking relieved. “Thanks, you scared me there.”

He decided to ignore the ‘are you even more of an idiot than we thought?’ looks that everyone was giving him.

“How are you even managing to raise a kid again?” Key asked, looking at him suspiciously.

“Can we go back to the matter?” Jonghyun and Jonghun asked simultaneously.

Everyone turned to look at them, stunned.

Onew cleared his throat. “Um, yes. Right. The competition.” He said. “Well, apparently, you’re all going to stay in a house together, but still paired up for room arrangements.”

Jonghyun (yes, Jonghyun. No typo there) pulled Hongki’s arm to make him sit back down again. “Hyung, can you tell us the other couples participating? So we can try to see what’s coming.”

“Let’s see…”

“Well, there’s you both” He pointed at Minho and Taemin, who was once again sitting on his boyfriend’s lap and looking at him hungrily. “Then Jongkey,” He looked up at the pair of friends. “Jongki,” They nodded. “Then-Wait a second.”

“What is it, Hyung?” Minho asked, trying to ignore Taemin on his neck (“Taemin, stop it”, he whispered).

“Well, I don’t think any of those couples are real, apart from you two” He said. The others agreed. “Then why did they decide to do this competition?”

“Fans are crazy, man.” Jonghun said. “ They would do anything to see their idols do some skinship. I guess Mnet is just trying to get some money with us.” He laughed. “Let’s continue, hyung.”

“As I was saying, there’s 2Min, Jongkey, Jongki…”

“Joonmir”

“Well, Joon-hyung is good at sports, but he’s so stupid I don’t know how he manages to remember his lines for MBLAQ’s songs.” Key said. They all nodded in

“And Mir is cute as hell (he looks like me), but I don’t know if he’s good at sports or anything. I don’t think so.” Hongki said.

“Let’s not forget that there’s a musical part in this competition,” Onew said, skimming over the document. “They are great dancers.”

“So are we” Taemin said, his words muffled by Minho’s neck.

Onew ignored the maknae’s comment. “There’s Myungsoo and Sungjong from Infinite… Myungjong, they call it.”

“Well, they definitely have the cute factor, and their looks are great. Anyone know about their sports abilities?”

“Well, Myungsoo isn’t that great at archery, but I don’t think that’s going to help any of us” Hongki shrugged. “His singing isn’t bad either. I think they’re just on the cute side of everything.” Jonghun nodded.

“Oh, .” Onew’s eyes were like saucers at the next name.

“What? Who is it?” The rest insisted.

“… Yunho-hyung and Jaejoong-hyung.”

“…”

“WHAT?!” SHINee screamed in surprise. Taemin actually looked up from Minho’s neck.

“I’m serious! It’s written here!” Onew waved the paper around, as if trying to prove he wasn’t lying.

Jonghyun looked at his fellow members. “Did seriously the President allow them to see each other?” He asked. “I thought that was forbidden…?”

“It was…”, Key agreed.

“Then what the hell?” Minho said.

Hongki and Jonghun, although aware of the whole TVXQ fiasco (who didn’t know about that?), weren’t as surprised with the news. After all, they had lost Wonbin, but he still visited a lot.

“Excuse me, but, instead of discussing the hidden motives your President might have with this, can we please talk about if we’re going to be humiliated when their sports abilities are much better than ours and they have a ‘real love connection’ or whatsoever that makes the fans go nuts?” Jonghun got back SHINee’s attention.

“Oh, right.” Onew said. “Well, as you said, they’re probably going to humiliate you guys so bad in the sports section, as well as the dancing section” He continued, “because neither of you can dance and Hongki’s sport abilities are close to nonexistent.”

Key snickered at that.

“Key, don’t be so smug about it, because I think you’re going to have it bad too.” Onew reprimanded him. “You’re a really great dancer, but Jonghyun is… just good. They are not just good. As for sports, you’re both pretty decent, but they’re a lot better.” He looked at the only real couple. “Minho and Taemin are the only ones that can actually have a go against them.”

The maknaes smiled at their leader. “Who’s the last couple?”

“Eunhae.”

...

“Well, now we’re screwed.”

“Wait, so they’re not actually competing?” Tao asked.

“Apparently not.” Kris said, looking at him. “They’re the MCs.”

“And why do they want us to be MCs for the competition again?” Kai asked, sitting up from where he was sprawled on the sofa, his back to Sehun’s chest.

“They want you because you’re like the country’s most loved couple, you being Korea’s unofficial prince and all.” Suho answered. “I still can’t get over you guys coming out. The phone’s been ringing nonstop for two weeks already, I’m starting to feel like a freaking secretary (no offence to the secretaries all over the world).”

“Well, someone had to start coming out, or we’ll just be stuck in this super conservative country forever. So much for having the fastest Internet connection in the world.” Sehun said, pulling Kai back against him and snuggling.

“Anyways. It's supposed to be a secret until the cameras start rolling, so no one” Suho swept his gaze across the room. “Can say anything about them being MCs. Got it?” He asked. “Kai, that means no hinting things to Taemin or Sulli, I don’t care if you’re ‘triplets and have a mental connection’ or whatever. No telling anything to anyone. Comprende?”  He said.

“Yes, okay. Dude, where’s the trust?” Kai sulked.

“With you? Nowhere.” D.O. laughed.

“Lauren! Do you know where I left my charge cord for the laptop?” Joon asked, looking around in his room.

“Man, Lauren isn’t even here. Wake up!” Mir said, tossing the cord at Joon’s head.

It hit him right in the forehead.

“HEY!” Joon said. “Stop hitting me with random things!” He reached behind him to get a pillow, and then threw it back at Mir. “We should be packing or trying to figure out how to win this thing!”

“What thing?” Mir asked, suddenly feeling confused. “Oh, you mean the competition?”

Joon snorted. “Well, no, idiot. I meant our travel to London to visit the Queen. Of course I meant the competition.” He said, sarcastically. “And then people say I’m Dumber” He muttered.

“That’s easy.” Mir answered. “We go there, lose tragically in the first round and then go home.” He said. “Do you even want to win?”

“Well, why not?” Joon asked.

“Because”, Mir gave him a pointed look. “The winners of this thing are going to be ‘Gay 4EVAR’, man.” He said. “ They’ll probably get ‘Gay for ma BFF’ T-shirts in commemoration.”

Joon tilted his head to the side, looking confused. “Why would the T-shirts say that?”

The maknae sighed. “Do you even know what being gay means?”

“Um, yeah.” Joon said. “Isn’t that when you’re a boy dating another boy?” He asked, unsure.

“…Kind of. Yeah. You could define it like that, I guess.” Mir answered. Could the dancer get anymore stupid? “It’s when a person likes someone from their own gender, in a way.” Well, that was the easy version. No point in confusing his hyung talking about being biual or panual or all those other whatever-ual tags people tended to put on others.

“Well, I’m not gay for Onew, and he's my best friend.” Joon said. “And you’re not, so those Tees would be stupid.” He mused. “Because I like men, they’re great friends, but that doesn’t fit us. And it’s us in the competition.”

“I’m surprised you can even say full sentences with your level of intelligence.” Mir said with a smile. “But that wasn’t exactly what I meant by ‘like’, you amoeba-intelligence-level human being.”

Mir and Joon (aka. Dumb and Dumber) hadn’t ever been the greatest of friends, but that didn’t automatically mean they hated each other. They just liked to have a constant friendly banter, that’s all. They didn’t go out together as much as, for example, Seungho and Lauren did, and Joon spent a lot of time with Onew and Jonghyun instead of his fellow members, but still.

They enjoyed teasing each other.

That’s why Joon didn’t get as angry as he would have with that comment if someone else had said it.

“…Mir?” He asked in a low voice.

Mir gave him a big, innocent smile, holding his hands behind his back. “Yes, hyung?” He asked sweetly.

“You better start running.”

“Actually, the real plan was to get some other SuJu couples apart from you guys” Leeteuk said, pointing at Eunhae (might as well start calling them that, seeing that they were going to have to act as a couple after all).

“Really? Who else was supposed to be there?” Hyukjae asked.

After breaking the news to the fake couple, Super Junior had taken seats around the coach and armchairs Ryeowook was sitting on a table because they’re a bit low on chairs. They were all squished together on the sofa, which meant that Heechul had to get up from his Siwon-sofa and Donghae was sitting behind Hyukjae, with his legs to his best friend’s back.

Leeteuk was sitting like a boss in front of everyone, holding the papers that would seal everyone’s destinies (not really, but it sounds cool).

“Well, apparently, they wanted to have the three pairings that made it to the ‘Best 19 boy-couples’ from Super Junior.” He raised his head. “That means Siwon and Heechul, and then Kangin and me.” He pointed at said members.

“But then, why is it just us now?” Donghae asked, playing with Hyukjae’s hair at the back of his neck distractedly.

Leeteuk laughed at his favorite dongsaeng. “Because, let’s be honest here.” He said. “Who do you think actually has a chance to win this ridiculous competition amongst all of us?”

“Well, that’s true.” Hyukjae agreed. “Siwon is good at sports, but Heechul-hyung is-“ He trailed off at said member’s evil stare. “Well, let’s just not go there. And Heechul and Siwon?” he asked. “That’s just ridiculous, dude. What about Hangeng-hyung and Kibummie?” He looked at the ‘pair’ of lonely people that had been abandoned by their boyfriends.

Yes, they had been together. Yes, like that. Actually, Siwon and Kibum were still a couple.

Or they were supposed to be.

Because Kibum was MIA lately.

Hangeng and Heechul had broke up, but still talked and were great friends, now that they had started to get over each other (romantically speaking).

Because long-distance relationships sounded really romantic. Just not possible in their case.

So Siwon and Heechul had started to hang out a lot more after that, seeing as they shared the experience. But that didn’t mean people had to actually see them as a couple.

As for Kangteuk? “You wouldn’t last a day.” Yesung said nonchalantly.

Leeteuk and Kangin have him death stares.

“Well, I’m sorry, hyung, but it’s true!” He exclaimed. “Kangin is the strongest of all of us, but you’re not that coordinated and you’re getting old.” He turned to Leeteuk.

“You could have said it differently” Ryeowook lightly kicked him on the side with his foot.

“But yes, as Jongwoon”, Leeteuk gave him an angry look, “has put it so nicely, you guys” he turned to look at Eunhae, “are the ones that we believe have the better chance of winning.”

Henry (who most of the members had forgotten was even there) got up from the floor and went to look at the paper.

“Taeminnie and Minho are competing too.” He said, raising his eyes to see his hyungs.

Kyuhyun turned to look at Hyukjae. “Eunhyukkie against Minho? Sports section is going to be a bloodshed.” He sang.

“MOMMY! Seunghyun still hasn’t given me back my undies!” Minhwan screamed. “MOMMYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!”

…But Mommy just wanted to crawl inside a box at the thought of falling on his at the first sports round. And he was going to look so damn stupid when dancing.

“I’m dying here! Deal with it yourself!” He called back.

…

“Oh. Well, okay then.” Minhwan’s defeated voice sounded.

A hand blocked the view through the camera lens.

Myungsoo looked up and away from the camera to see Sungjong smiling sweetly down at him. “Hey, Sungjonggie. Do you need something?” He asked.

Honestly, I would be fine with you doing not-so-respectable things with me, Sungjong couldn’t help but think, but since I can’t have those, I’ll settle with a drink. “Well, I wanted to talk to you, hyung.” He said hesitantly.

Myungsoo looked a bit surprised. “Oh, sure. What is it?” He asked, setting the camera on the night table beside his bed.

Sungjong sat on his own bed, looking at the other member. “Well, it’s about the competition.” He said softly. He looked down at the unmade bed and started playing with the covers. “Are you sure you want to do it?” He asked. “Because it’s not like Dream Team, they’re actually going to have us pretend we’re-“ He didn’t want to say the word ‘lovers’ in the same sentence as ‘pretend’ and ‘Myungsoo’. Because that wouldn’t be fair.

Who would want to pretend to be lovers with their crush just for show?

And it wasn’t like they had to convince anyone they were together. They had to convince people they were just pretending.

And Sungjong wouldn’t be pretending. And his lying skills weren’t that great if none at all.

“Is something bothering you, Sungjong?” Myungsoo asked, getting up from his bed to crouch in front of the maknae.

Yeah, you’re too close right now. Sungjong thought. Like, uncomfortably close. “Well, I’m used to people saying I’m too girly and that I like boys, but I don’t want them to say it to you too, hyung.” He said. It wasn’t a lie; it just wasn’t what was bothering him exactly.

Myungsoo smiled at the maknae. “Why would anyone say that?” He asked. “We all know that’s not true, and this is just for show, right?” He said.

Ouch.

Right in the feels.

“Sure, hyung.” Sungjong said, trying not to let his disappointment show.

Myungsoo got up and ruffled the other boy’s hair. “Don’t worry about it, okay?” He said.

The maknae nodded. He got up too and opened his mouth-

“Lee Sungjong!” A voice startled them. “Yah! Lee Sungjong! Koko has pooped again!” Sunggyu’s voice roared in their dorm.

Sigh. Big, big sigh.

“Coming!”

“Okay, so we’re ready to begin.” One of the producers said, getting the stack of paper from the table.

The other producers got up from their seats as well. The competition of the year was about to begin.

“Let’s get them all together and let the competition begin”.

“What do you think is going to happen?” Junsu asked, lying in bed with Yoochun.

Yoochun turned to look at his boyfriend. He frowned. “Honestly?” He sighed. “I think things are going to get bad. Like, really, really bad.”

Junsu nodded in agreement. He back-crawled upwards to rest his head in Yoochun’s shoulder.

“I’m assuming we’re not telling Jae it was us who signed him up for the competition?”

Yoochun laughed quietly. “I don’t have a death wish, and, unless you do have one, you’re assuming correctly.”

The black car stopped in front of what was going to be their house for the following weeks.

“Holy , this is amazing” Jaejin said. Everyone else in the car agreed. “Are you sure they’re staying here?” He asked their manager, who had momentarily forgotten how to drive (which caused the car to swerve suddenly, until Jonghun got hold of the wheel).

The manager nodded, stepping out of his reverie. “Yes, they are staying here.” He said in amazement.

“Well, then I want to compete too” Jaejin said, still in awe of the house.

The house was a two-story building, the ground floor and the first floor. The ground floor outer walls were white all around the house, and the front walls had a white porch in front. There were huge windows in each room that showed the interior of the house. Next to the white walls, there was a room with stonewalls that had the entrance to the house. Just in front, there was some space to park the car outside, which wasn’t needed but still nice.

On the left side of the entrance, there were white stairs that went underground, probably to some other room or the basement.

The first floor walls were painted a light brown shade, giving the impression of being made of wood. This floor wasn’t as big as the ground floor, but still had space for at least six rooms. There were some chairs in front of the huge windows that also were in that floor.

The house also had a huge garden with grass surrounding the house. There was a swimming pool in front of the house and some loungers next to it, under a huge umbrella to block the sun.

All in all, it was an amazing house, and Hongki couldn’t help but agree for the first time with Jaejin and be happy that he was in the competition.

Their car stopped in the parking space, they got the luggage out of the trunk and said their goodbyes to the manager.

“I’ll come pick you up later” He told the babies and Jaejin, who nodded in excitement at seeing the house.

They were the first to arrive, even before the filming crew and the PDs. They couldn’t go in the house yet though, as the MCs were the ones that had the keys to the house. The MCs, who were still a mystery to everyone.

They didn’t have to wait a long time until a white van appeared.

“I bet you that’s someone from SM” Seunghyun said. “They don’t know what cars are and always travel to places in vans.”

It turned out to be true, as the second group of people to arrive were Yunho and Changmin. Greetings and the usual ‘you’re amazing, hyung, I love you and want to be like you’ speeches were exchanged.

After that, other cars (and vans) kept popping up. Infinite, MBLAQ, SHINee and, finally Super Junior who came in three vans showed up and stayed in the house’s doorway.

Joon was talking to Onew, Jonghyun and Key about the intelligence level of monkeys and how Leo was smarter than Yoogeun (to which SHINee immediately got angry about and said that no one was smarter than their mini-Minho). That started a diva-off between Joon and Key who obviously won, because Joon is stupid and can’t take Key’s iness.

Kyuhyun, Changmin and Minho, members of the Kyu-line, were talking about soccer and arguing about who was better: Messi or Beckham it's definitely Messi.

Seunghyun, Minhwan and Sungjong were talking about cute things.

All in all, everyone was talking to each other about whatever stuff they could come up with.

That’s why no one noticed the black car that parked in front of them, or the three singers that joined them, until Changmin looked up from his mobile phone (he was checking the Premier League’s results) and trailed off when he saw his ex-members.

With eyes huge as saucers, he nudged Yunho’s arm. “…Dad?” He said, softly.

Yunho averted his eyes from the house and turned around to face Changmin. “What?” He smiled at his son.

The maknae just pointed to where the other three were standing, looking uncomfortable.

TVXQ’s leader looked up and gasped.

He knew he’d have to see them, but he wasn’t as prepared as he thought.

They had all really changed a lot in all these years. Sure, he’d seen them on TV, but the changes were even more evident when they were in front of him.

Junsu had dyed his hair blond. Not oxygen blond, but it was still between blond and a very light brown. His fringe was styled upwards. He had a more confident aura surrounding him than the last time Yunho had seen him.

Which, considering the situation they were in when they’d last seen each other, would make total sense.

He was wearing eyeliner (or guy-liner, as they would call it), but it wasn’t as exaggerated as when he was doing the Tarantallegra promotions.

Yoochun looked a lot happier. His hair was really short, which, in some weird way, gave him a younger look. But that was probably because of the pink cap he was wearing.

Yunho had missed Yoochun’s carefree attitude and optimism, he realized.

And then there was Jaejoong.

Jaejoong, who had changed so much but was still as beautiful as ever.

He still looked as he had before, with black hair and a side fringe, his deer eyes framed with a thin line of guy-liner. But somehow, he looked so much bigger, as if he’d grown taller and bigger in those years.

His body hadn’t grown.

His confidence had.

Yunho could immediately see Jaejoong wasn’t the feminine boy that cooked unbelievably hot dishes for the other four members. He wasn’t the boy that had once complained about how Yunho didn’t see him as a man.

His eyes were a lot colder now. His gestures and stance reflected his confident attitude, his knowledge of who and what he was, and he wasn’t afraid to show the world.

He had one single skull earring on his right ear, where his signature cross earring used to be when he was still a part of TVXQ. Hero’s cross, Changmin would call it. Not Jaejoong’s, but Hero’s.

That was another thing.

When they separated, Junsu was still Xiah, the same way Yoochun was still Micky. They had moved on from SM, but they still remembered where they came from and why they had those names, the dreams they had put in their stage names.

Jaejoong, though, had lost Hero.

…

Yunho hadn’t noticed how everyone else had stopped talking and was staring at him (with the exception of Dumb and Dumber, who had gone to see the swimming pool).

Taemin and Minho were standing on each of Changmin’s sides, who had forgotten he was the tallest and biggest person there and was just standing there, looking at Jaejoong longingly, but looking afraid to say anything. He looked like a kid who was waiting for his mother’s reprimands after he’d done something wrong. It broke Yunho’s heart to see him like that.

Apparently, the SHINee maknaes had sensed his son’s distress, because they were standing there all firm and looking ready to kick some serious to anyone that might say something to Changmin.

Yunho was really grateful for that.

“Why is everyone standing there like we’re all idiots?” Kai’s carefree voice broke the tense silence that had formed.

He and Sehun had appeared from nowhere, him looking at Taemin and having a twin-telepathy talk with him.

Sehun was holding a key chain on his finger.

“Shall we go in?” He asked, giving everyone a smile and holding his hand up for everyone to see.

Everyone forgot the tension in the air and smiled back.

And that, people, is the power of maknae aegyo.

Joon came back, dragging Mir with him on one hand. “Wait a second”, he said, pointing at Sehun and Kai. “You’re the MCs?”

Kai laughed. “You really are a genius, Joonie-hyung.”

That was a lot more dramatic than what I first thought it would be. 

I really like that cross earring, so to me it's really important (and it's part of a scene I have in mind, so it's going to be important in this penpi (that's how Yesung calls them) too). 

I wanted to make a good description of the house, but I'm not sure I was able to, so here it is:

Yeah, well, that's how the house is supposed to look like. I just took it from the internet, so if it's someone's house, well...They'll be living with you!! :D

The Sekai pairing came from a weird dream that went like this:

Warrior Baek Dong Soo (if you haven't seen that, you should totally do, it's the greatest drama EVAR!) - My subsonscious ships DongsooXUn (my conscious does too) - DS and Un get reincarnated into their actors Ji Chang Wook and Yoo Seung Ho - YSH is like Korea's prince in a republic - JCW and YSH transform into Sehun and Kai, respectively - Sekai settles in my subconscious - Since Kai (YSH) is the 'prince', he can do whatever the hell he wants (except killing puppies, 'cause that's not cool) - Sekai come out of the closet and NO ONE CAN SAY A DANG THING ABOUT IT, BECAUSE EVERYONE LOVES THEM AND THEY'RE SO FREAKING ADORBS!

There you go. That's the summed up, really short version about it. And that's why they're in this penpi, as the MCs, because I haven't planned a story for them. I'll let them just be happy ever after. BOOYAH!

So, that was the second chapter, I hope you guise liked it^^

Keep the unicorn blood coming!! (and by that I mean COMMENT!) ^^

I <3 You!!

xoxoxo

Laura