pandemonium

Taechul was on the prowl that morning (not that he wasn't every morning) as the lazy bums were all sleeping soundly, but today was special. Just a few minutes after 7am and the CEO called, telling him who was the closest person to the phone that they had important business to attend to today. It was already three months already, and finally... It was time to choose their positions and stage names. 8am would be when Youngwon and Dojung would be coming, and Taechul certainly knew that between the remaining 4 still sleeping, they would need to at least brush their teeth and have some time for morning coffee to look somewhat presentable.

Fortunately, Haeyeon had been awake for as long as he had in order to take his daily hour long shower and was now playing with his dog quietly, tossing a ball for her and reacting enthusiastically when she went and brought it back. “Good girl Mayumi,” the ex-swimmer, cooed, gently scratching behind her ears as she yipped softly in when she rolled over on her tummy. Taechul simply smiled at the scene as he peeked into the room, unable to believe that such an adorable puppy could be so vicious whenever anyone else approached her if it wasn't for the fact that he nearly had his thumb bit off when she became a vicious little demon instead.

With one person already accounted for, Taechul then bounded up the stairs and opened the first door he came across, the room with Haneul and Sangjeon sleeping soundly inside. Also peeking inside with a bright grin, he almost laughed out loud when he spotted Haneul in Sangjeon's bed and the orange-haired male on the floor. It was easy for him to deduce quickly that Sangjeon had rolled off his bed and Haneul had made his way down onto the lower bunk for his random night time bouts of affection. “Haneullie, Sanggie, it's time to wake up~” he announced as he entered the room, stifling a giggle and shaking his head at the fact that neither of them had blankets and were instead just curled up into little balls to stay warm.

The first one to stir was Haneul, who blinked lazily at him, stretching his sleepy limbs as he tried to sit up, while Sangjeon began his morning ritual of mumbling angry things and attempting to crawl away from Taechul. However, this really never worked out in his favor as Taechul grabbed his feet and pulled Sangjeon towards himself slowly, a wide and knowing grin on his face. “Aw, does Sanggie need a little motivation to wake up~?” he cooed softly, feigning innocence as Haneul stumbled over Sangjeon and began making his way out of the room, still rubbing his eyes.

“Nuh,” Sangjeon grunted in return, rolling over and digging his fingers into the carpet as he tried to fight Taechul's pull, “Nuh cuddle...” Completely warmed just by the cuteness exhibited by the normally bratty male, Taechul laughed in amusement and continued to drag Sangjeon until the messy-haired boy was out in the hallway, laying on the wood floors and glaring up at Taechul sleepily - but unable to do anything but just lie there like a road block.

It wasn't until Taechul happily told him that they had a big meeting and that they would have guests (insinuating the whole staff) over, and if he didn't want to suffer Youngwoo's punishment he had better be up and ready by then. Those words worked better for Sangjeon than any bucket of cold water could as it then only took a few moments for him to be up and on his feet, stomping down stairs behind Haneul as the two were suddenly in a zombie-paced race to reach the bathroom first.

“Yah it's my house,” Sangjeon grumbled still sleepily as he rubbed his bird-nest hair before taking a smack to the back of the head by the maknae.

“Which is why you've got to treat me well, I'm guest,” Haneul retorted back, but without his usually snappiness because of because of how sleepy they still were.

Meanwhile, Taechul now satisfied that the two maknaes were up and about, had entered his own room and set his chin on Jinsung's bunk, simply grinning at the way the younger male slept. Considering that Jinsung had a tendency to pull his shirt up in his sleep, usually because he moved around a lot and wore loose fitting clothing that was easy to accidentally wiggle out of, the milky soft skin of his firm but untoned stomach was left completely exposed until Taechul politely tugged his shirt down and straightened it with a grin. The smaller male was scowling in his sleep again as half of his face was buried in his covers, mumbling incoherent complaints as Taechul began to try and shake him awake. “Jinnie, we have to leave in an hour,” he said softly, brushing a few strands of hair out of Jinsung's face. The scowl suddenly left Jinsung's countenance for the briefest of moments, leaving a faint grin on his face instead as he gently swatted Taechul's hand away.

“Go 'way Andy,” he grumbled in a quiet playful voice, surprising Taechul with the warmth that was there - but then he immediately froze for a moment, uncomfortably aware that he had heard something he probably wasn't supposed to have heard.

“Jinnie,” he repeated softly, not wanting to ruin this moment for Jinsung but also not sure of what he should do. He didn't know who 'Andy' was, but he was sure he was someone important from Jinsung's past just by the way that name was spoke; the love and care that was put into just enunciating the word itself.

At the repeated call, Jinsung's eyes then snapped open wide and then narrowed as he focused on Taechul, his signature scowl forming on his face even as he turned red. “You're... Taechul,” he mumbled almost reluctantly, not actually seeming disappointed to see it was Taechul instead of whomever he had been dreaming about, but he still seemed hurt. With a sigh, he ran a hand through his messy hair and without a care, hopped over the edge of his bunk and landing on the ground. Thanks to the fact that his sleepy brain was still trying to coordinate things together, he almost fell over if Taechul wouldn't have been there to steady him by catching his arm, which resulted in the two sharing an uncomfortable moment as Taechul held on a moment too long and Jinsung simply stared at him.

But then Taechul broke the spell with a smile as he chuckled softly, “So, we've got an hour until Dojung picks us up, don't trip over yourself again, Jinsunggie~" And with that, he gently patted Jinsung on the head and ruffled his hair, turning to exit the room and wake up the sleeping Kyugeum, since that was the last room and the last person. Really, Taechul woudn't have left the room so quickly if it wasn't for that he didn't know what to say about what just happened, for once in his life, when Jinsung had made such direct eye contact with him. Meanwhile, Jinsung was left to pull off his night clothes and change into something more acceptable, blinking after the taller male for a moment before starting to grumbling about something or other again.

Kyugeum was difficult to wake up before Taechul decided to simply entice the blonde male out with the promise of food, but he wasn't hard to get out of bed. He was up and wandering down the stairs in only a few seconds after Taechul had whispered "donuts" into his ear, trying to make his way down the spiral staircase without falling and killing himself or at least seriously injuring himself. So when he plopped down on one of the chairs and was offered a cup of coffee from Haeyeon, who smiled and pat the sleepy penguin on the head like a father looking after his young, Kyugeum simply yawned and faceplanted into the counter. It was endearing and cute to everyone besides Sangjeon, who was totally jealous of their cute and easy skinship seeing as he had to practically force himself onto Haeyeon and order the awkward duck around.

Sangjeon had relented earlier and let Haneul take the first shower, which he was already regretting as he was almost certain Haneul would use up all the hot water and he'd end up having a horrible shower, but it was more than made up for when Haeyeon shyly presented him with a cup of coffee.

“H-Here, you look sleepy,” the muscular male commented quietly, feeling nervous as Sangjeon just stared at him (specifically, his bare arms since Haeyeon was actually not wearing a million layers for once) for a moment before grinning and accepting the cup, making sure to touch Haeyeon's fingers and hand gently as he took the cup and thanked him, searching for the slightest response. Instead, Haeyeon just nodded his head, avoiding Sangjeon's eyes and scurried off to play with that god forsaken dog of his, causing Sangjeon to pout and grumble. Everything he tried to do to Haeyeon always ended up with the awkward duck scurrying away before anything could really happen.

Haneul joined Kyugeum and Sangjeon at the table only a few seconds later, still damp hair sticking up all over the place and giving him quite an unruly look. Almost immediately, that was attacked by Kyugeum, who with a sleepy smile on his face, began to bat the hair down until it resembled something like Haneul's usual hair style. “What's your problem?” the maknae asked snappily, eying the grumbling princess with absolutely no patience as the last thing anyone needed was a grumpy Sangjeon, since the spoiled little brat liked to make everyone's day miserable with his sour attitude.

Jinsung, who had casually observed the whole thing, simply smirked knowingly at Sangjeon as he sipped at a mug of coffee that Taechul had left for him. His Korean was getting a lot better - he could understand most things and could join in conversations fairly easily nowadays. “He's pouting because Haeyeon is oblivious,” he teased playfully, pouring ample amounts of sugar into his coffee afterwards as he worked on cooking a simple breakfast for everyone. They weren't allowed anything fancy, so he usually just cooked up a basic breakfast of eggs and rice, figuring that would fit into Youngwoo's crazy diet plan. Of course, it wasn't particularly tasty, but Jinsung always flavored food well and was careful to make the eggs to everyone's preference. He began passing out plates after a few moments, sipping his coffee again and daring anyone to complain with his vicious glare from his panda eyes. Most days, the boys were more than happy to have someone there making meals, even if that someone would smack them with a serving spoon if they dared to ask for sauce.

Haneul couldn't help but snicker while Sangjeon glared back at Jinsung viciously. “That's not it,” he growled in a huff, stuffing his face with his rice to hide his embarrassment as Haeyeon came over to the table to join them, followed by a smiling Taechul.

“Ooh, Jinnie, I love it when you cook for us~” Taechul commented as he took his plate and thanked the younger male with a air kiss at his cheek, which earned him a gentle bop on his cheek with a spoon from Jinsung, who was glaring at him without any anger as he told Taechul to shut up and sit down. Pretending to be hurt and pouting slightly, the taller male laughed softly before nodding hastily, “Of course, boss!”

“You guys are seriously going to make me gag with all this,” Sangjeon commented dryly, earning a questioning look from the others as he had paused to take a drink of his coffee, rolling his eyes at them, “All your grease is going to make me break out,” he blandly explained, earning a confused look from Jinsung and a broad grin from Taechul, who seemed amused by the idea.

“Are we really that greasy?” he asked coyly, laughing pleasantly as he took a bite of his food before grinning over at Jinsung. The shorter boy couldn't help but scowl again as he repeatedly asked in English what they meant and why Taechul seemed so happy as he sat down next to the oldest and tallest male, pestering him because he didn't like that smug grin Sangjeon was giving him.

Haneul meanwhile, snorted as he absently took Kyugeum's now limp hand in his since the blonde male had fallen asleep on the counter. “Hah, like you're one to talk! You make the rest of us uncomfortable when you undress a certain hyung with your eyes every time we have dance practice,” he teased sharply, earning an indignant shout from Sangjeon who turned red and tried to smack the maknae, but the stronger maknae put up quite a fight while Haeyeon remained completely and painfully oblivious.

“Sangjeon has a crush on someone...? Who...?” he asked hesitantly, cocking his head in surprise. Had he been missing something completely? He didn't notice the boy staring at anyone... And while Haeyeon only got more and more bewildered, the others looked at him for a second before they all burst into a fit of uncontrollable giggles, aside from Sangjeon. The said male simply smacked himself in the forehead and excused himself to go take his shower, leaving his food only barely touched from his embarrassment while Haeyeon wondered what everyone found so funny.

“I kind of feel bad for him,” Jinsung chuckled out loud breathlessly, shaking his head as he tried to catch his breath.

“Feel bad for who?” Haeyeon asked again with his signature confused expression plastered all over his face, earning a fresh round of giggles from the boys as they wondered how one person could be so gosh darn oblivious. Really, they could have probably kept laughing all morning if Dojung wouldn't have stepped in at that very moment with a lopsided grin and a massive bag of groceries in his arms.

“What's so funny?” he asked curiously with an arched eyebrow as he set to work putting away the groceries that Youngwoo had ordered he bring by that morning. Behind him trailed Yongwon, the company CEO, wearing a cheerful smile and a simple black sweater with jeans. Only Taechul and Sangjeon knew that the company had a CEO, while the rest simply assumed Dojung was their boss and he was too lazy to hire proper management. Naturally, most of the boys were wondering who this older man was, as they eyed him warily and curiously.

Sangjeon practically threw a fit when he spotted his dad and Dojung standing in his apartment. “What is he doing here?” he asked Dojung darkly, refusing to look at his father since he was still quite angry with the CEO for all of the chaos that had been taking over his life these past weeks. The members of Pandemonium could only stare curiously between the older male and Sangjeon, blinking as they waited nervously to see what would happen between the two. Then Dojung smiled, unfazed by Sangjeon's anger, while Yongwon held out the bag he was carrying as a peace offering.

“Now Sanggie, are you really still mad at me?” the older man asked gently, gesturing for Sangjeon to take the bag as the orange haired boy glared at his hands like he wanted to set them on fire with the burning anger in them. Haneul, feeling particularly uncomfortable considering that he had no idea what kind of relations these two had, couldn't stop himself from commenting.

“Do we really have time to watch a lovers quarrel between you two?” he grumbled almost disbelievingly, earning a full blown laugh from Dojung, who ended up almost falling over because he couldn't contain his disbelieving giggles.

Sangjeon, meanwhile, had turned almost pure white as he was rendered speechless for the moment. “Oh, h-he's the person Sangjeon h-has a cr-crush on?” Haeyeon asked with the confusion distorting his face even more, looking between Sangjeon and the CEO with wide eyes and biting his lower lip. He would have never seen that coming. Sangjeon's face was a strange mix between horrified and murderous as he struggled to find words and stuttered and squeaked indignant, angry sounds.

Taechul, feeling bad for the younger male, smoothly came to his rescue. “That's actually the CEO,” he explained with a charming smile, patting the panicking Sangjeon on the back and giving the male a glass of water to help calm him down, “Choi Yongwon, Sangjeon's father." But once Sangjeon was breathing normally again, he stomped up to his room and slammed the door behind him, sitting against the door to try and calm himself while the others awkwardly apologized to the CEO.

“We have a CEO?” Haneul asked skeptically, critically eyeing Yongwon. They had heard about having a CEO, but most of them had never seen him before. This tall and willowy man dressed in such casual clothes, carrying a bag of what appeared to be junk food... This was their CEO? And more than that, he was Sangjeon's dad? It left a lot of questions swirling in their minds - why was the CEO Sangjeon's dad, and why didn't Sangjeon want to be apart of the group?

Yongwon smiled in a friendly way, not particually offended at all, “Oh yes, Kang Haneul. Who else would run the company besides a CEO?” The words seemed teasing, but the way Yongwon said it was too fatherly and warm for Haneul to take offense. Placing the bag onto the counter, he then opened up it and pulled out a box of cookies, a few sodas, and some ramen that he passed to an almost ecstatic Taechul, who ripped it open and began snacking on the crunchy noodles. Jinsung happily received a strawberry soda and some licorice, while Haneul was happy with a root beer and some chips and Kyugeum accepted a lime soda and the box of cookies, complaining when Haneul snatched one of his cookies, but not saying anything when he reached his hand into Haneul's bag of chips, only winking playfully at the younger when Haneul called him a hypocrite.

“Thanks~!” Kyugeum practically shouted as he popped open his drink, “We haven't had soda in forever! Uh muh gud, I love you boss,” he rambled on as he snacked on the delicious food that the smiling CEO had given them. Yongwon gestured for Dojung to go get Sangjeon, handing the smiling manager a couple chocolate bars and a can of grape soda. Knowing the task all too well by now, Dojung simply nodded and walked quietly up the stairs, forcing the door open by using his superior strength to shove Sangjeon out of the way. They came down about five minutes later, half a chocolate bar jammed into Sangjeon's mouth as he glared at the others who were all very thrilled to have their unhealthy snacks.

“Now that we're all gathered, I think it's time to tell you boys that we've solidified the concept, discography of the songs that we will include in the first album and most importantly, your positions,” Yongwon said quite graciously as he settled down on one of the chairs, smoothing out his clothing and crossing his legs. He looked quite elegant and refined despite his frumpy clothes, seemingly the exact opposite of his son who was slouching in his chair and glaring ferociously as he angrily bit into the chocolate bar. “We've decided that Taechul-ah will be our leader, lead vocalist, and lead dancer. Congratulations,” he nodded at Taechul, who smiled broadly while the others could only nod in agreement. If Taechul's attitude during the last few months hadn't led him to be leader, they didn't know who else could herd them all together and keep such a strong image to be their leader. “Jinsung, you're going to be our triple threat seeing as you are good in dancing, singing, and rapping,” he commented gently, and Jinsung shrugged. He had expected that, honestly, and was neither thrilled nor disappointed considering that he wasn't the best in anything but was just equally adept in all. “Haeyeon, you're our main dancer, visual, and a sub-vocalist,,” he continued on, and Haeyeon blushed under all the stares he was suddenly getting due to his status as the visual.

“It fits him,” a couple of the boys piped up with slight grins, only serving to make him blush even harder.

Yongwon smiled warmly, happy to see that the boys were getting along. He had been keeping tabs on their progress with the staff, of course. But he wasn't only concerned that they were working hard, he also wanted to make sure they were getting along and that everything was okay since he had planned for all of them to be together for as long as possible as a group. He wanted his son to be making friends, not new enemies. “Ah, Kyugeum, you're going to be our main rapper and sub-vocalist. Congratulations,” he nodded toward the cheerful Kyugeum, who had happily reminded the CEO that he was Kyutegeum and not Kyugeum, which left the CEO laughing lightly. “I'll have to remember that, Kyutegeum. Sanggie-,” he was then interrupted by Sangjeon.

“I'm a man, damn it. My name is Sangjeon!” he growled angrily, taking a big drink of his grape soda. Haeyeon turned to him, another one of his spur of the moment things, and shyly suddenly complimented that the name is cute. Needless to say, Sangjeon blushed profusely and buried his face in his hands, wishing that Haeyeon didn't have such an effect on him.

Yongwon eyed the interaction with mild interest, but left it alone it alone for now as he cleared his throat and continued, “Anyway, Sangjeonnie, you're the lead rapper and sub dancer. And last but not least, Haneul, you're our main vocalist and a sub-dancer! Congratulations to all!” He clapped his hands at the end of assigning all the positions, smiling warmly at everyone. “I'm very proud of your progress, boys. I understand it's been a lot of hard work for all of you, and that you've been struggling. But your hard work isn't in vain, you know? The staff is always raving to me about how much you've improved, how well you're all doing,” he spoke with gentle pride, looking at the boys as if each and every one of them were his son and he was proud of their accomplishments.

Dojung eyed the scene from the side, grinning to himself as he watched their faces. Obviously they had no idea how to react to such a genuinely kind person like Yongwon, who seemed like some knight in shining armor as he came bearing kind words and unhealthy snack food. Really, he probably appeared to be god to them at this point considering just how tough the other staff members were hammering on them. But they were on a tight schedule, and there was really no time for all this sappy cutesy, I'm proud of you son conversations; they'd have to save them for another day. “We're here to decide on your stage names today too guys,” he gently reminded.

Now Yongwon grinned and clapped his hands, nodding happily. “Oh, that's right! Stage names! You guys are going to have to come up with some stage names! How exciting,” he chirped out excitedly, as if he expected them to already have stage names prepared. They glanced at each other awkwardly, having never once thought of stage names in the entire time they were training. Taechul, who was now snacking on some hi-chews that the CEO brought him, grinned brightly as he glanced down at the candy and then chewed thoughtfully on it.

“Tae-C? Like Tasty, yum~ And it's part of my name too,” he commented as the inspiration disappeared into his mouth, grinning at his own cleverness. The others glanced over at him like he had grown a second head, wondering where he came up with this crazy stuff. But they let it drop because, well, it did sort of sound like tasty, and it oddly fit him well.

Next to him, Haneul pursed his lips for a moment in thought,“Sky? I guess? Since my name means sky,” he mumbled, suddenly feeling a little self conscious as Dojung giggled in the background. These kids were too cute, he thought, as they all awkwardly stared at each other, wondering who would embarrass themselves next. No one expected it would be Haeyeon, who very quite seriously raised his hand.

“Neptune,” he spoke with a straight face that left the others staring at him in surprise, “My stage name is Neptune... Y-You know, the god of the seas...” he then trailed off nervously, feeling a little self-conscious with all the open mouthed stares he was getting as the others couldn't really tell if he was being serious or if he was just joking around. What kind of weird name is Neptune? “It that... Bad?” he asked, looking down at his hands in shame and avoiding all of their eyes. Of course he'd be the one that would come up with a dumb nickname - but considering how Haneul was going for Sky, the inspiration for sea came up right afterwards for him.

Now Sangjeon rolled his eyes, trying to resist the urge to facepalm. Yes, he thought, that is a supremely dorky stage name. He really couldn't figure out why he thought Haeyeon was the hottest thing since squirtable cheese, but he took pity on the awkward hyung and took this opportunity to pat him on the back and feel his manly shoulders. “No hyung, it's super cool,” he commented, hardly sounding genuine as he was more interested in feeling those hard muscles underneath his hand. But Haeyeon didn't seem to realize Sangjeon was practically forcing himself to say it and smiled broadly at the said male with all the genuinity in the world.

Unable to do anything else but blush, Sangjeon turned to Dojung instead. “Yah, just take a letter out of my name and that'll be my stage name. I'll be like that guy L,” he said with a shrug, not really caring at all. Dojung smirked and wrote down the name, shaking his head and hoping Sangjeon wouldn't regret this nonchalance later.

Kyugeum volunteered his name next as he chirped eagerly, “Kyutegeum~! My stage name is Kyutegeum!” Then squealed at how cute it sounded, making strange cooing sounds as he just couldn't seem to get over how cute his stage name was as Dojung laughed.

“Nope, not happening kid,” he replied lightly, earning a full blown pout from Kyugeum who ran over and grabbed the managers firm arms like a sad puppy who wasn't getting his way as he tried to convince Dojung to change his mind. But Dojung had a strong will and a little aegyo hardly fazed him as he shook his head, “It's not cool enough, Kyugeum.”

“Well can it at least have Kyu? Kyu, kyu~”Kyugeum insisted, making weird noises with his mouth as he tried to convince the impenetrable wall that was Dojung's heart. Seriously, no amount of aegyo got through to that man. However, Kyugeum did manage to sort of convince Dojung, if only for the fact that Dojung was highly uncomfortable with the extremely close hug and was willing to compromise in order to get the clingy boy away from him.

“What about... Junggyu?” he responded questioningly, thinking he'd heard a stage name like that somewhere. He was pretty sure he'd watched a television special with a young man named something like that, and it sounded better than Kyutegeum, at least. Almost immediately, Kyugeum grinned excitedly and bounced up and down, singing the gwiyomi player song for some strange reason in pleasure at the name while Dojung could only nod awkwardly and turn to Jinsung.

“We have your stage name on file as Jason, is that alright with you?” he asked cautiously, carefully watching the male for his reactions. Jinsung's muscles tightened briefly at the mention and he looked up, startled, before his eyes narrowed dangerously. The other members were now staring at him curiously though, leaving him with an annoying dilemma; if he were to make a big scene out of this, they'd ask questions... But at the same time, he didn't really want everyone calling him by that - what he had tried to escape by changing his name to Jinsung. However, Taechul immediately noticed his apprehension and pat his shoulder reassuringly, but Jinsung hardly noticed.

“Yeah, that's fine,” he grumbled angrily, pretending not to care as he grabbed out a piece of licorice and whipped Taechul's grabby hands with it. He then smirked in triumph when Taechul's hand momentarily retracted, but Jinsung ended up squeaking in surprise when Taechul returned full force, his thigh in a highly inappropriate manner under the table. “BYUNTAECHUL HYUNG!” he shouted angrily, aiming a punch at the newly chosen leader, who ran away giggling as Jinsung eagerly gave chase.

Now that the tension had been broken, the others began going about their day in their normal way, with Kyugeum begging Haneul to go somewhere with him and Sangjeon stealing glances at Haeyeon as the older male returned to playing with his puppy.

Yongwon smiled over at Dojung as he watched them contently from where he sat. “They seem to be getting along quite well,” he commented quietly, even as Haneul and Sangjeon almost got into a fight because Haneul made a snide comment about Sangjeon's one-sided crush, leaving Haeyeon to have to pick up the struggling (and blushing) Sangjeon again.

Dojung chuckled and held the door open for the CEO as the two of them rose and left, “They make a good team.”