Seoul, 2013

It was another tiring day at the office, one that had gone by with Onew locking his office door so no one, especially Kim Jonghyun, could get inside. He signed all of his paperwork, listened to the music he was told to listen to, made charts of sales he felt would be successful, and he even took a half hour nap when he had nothing better to do.

Before hand, he had told his secretary to let anyone who wanted to see him know that he wouldn't accept any guests unless they called him first. However, no call and no knocks on his door interrupted his solitary day of thinking. He was supposed to leave within the next half hour and go to the hotel which Minho booked a room in for his welcome back party. Why they needed a hotel room for a party that included five people, he didn't know, but he went along with it anyway, and when he got there, he understood why.

None of their parents would have allowed them to stay at home with all the cases of beer they had scattered around the hotel room, and the music, though soft, was music from their teenage years that did not please the older generations. Onew's office attire stood out when compared to the other four males' laidback outfits.

"What made you so late, hyung?" Minho asked, wrapping his arm around Onew's shoulder.The four older men were usually able to hold down alcohol, but he guessed time and a lack of alcohol had lowered his tolerance, and made him very uncomfortable around any alcoholic substance.

"I was busy." Onew chuckled softly, taking a seat on the empty sofa, only to blink when Taemin pushed him off and took up the entire space.

"You can come sit here, hyung." Jonghyun's voice reached his ears, and in order to keep the youngers from worrying, Onew took the empty seat next to Jonghyun.

Kibum walked out from the bathroom, swaying from side to side in a tipsy manner as he handed Onew a bottle of beer, "Drink up, hyung! We're celebrating your return, and we're not leaving until we're all drunk."

"Well, not me, of course." Minho chuckled, taking a sip of his beer, "Or else, how can I take all of you home?"

"I'll be fine." Onew said softly, opening his beer and taking a hesitant sip, the alcohol burning his throat as he swallowed it down. He didn't know why, but Onew felt tears slide down his cheek as he remembered their youth together. His friends and he were never the type to drink for happy reasons. The way they looked away from him while they drank told him he was the reason behind his drinking.

He was able to drunk 3 bottles of the alcoholic substance before he felt someone tug on his arm. When he looked up, Taemin was hovering over him with a bottle of beer, "Hyung, please stay here." Onew didn't fail to see the tears streaming down the younger male's face, "You're such a mean hyung, leaving us for five years."

"Taemin, you know I can't." Onew sighed, standing up, only to have Taemin grabbing his collars, sobbing loudly.

"Hyung, you were okay for all those years. Did you ever stop to think of us?" Taemin asked, his voice progressively growing louder. Kibum had passed out on the sofa, and both Minho and Jonghyun were too speecheless to stop the younger male. Onew tried to wipe Taemin's tears away, but his hands were frozen, "Do you know how many times I walked in on Jonghyun hyung after he harmed himself? Do you know how many times we've taken Jonghyun to the hospital because his life was in danger? Of course you don't know! No one knew because we hid it so well from the entire world!" Taemin burst into sobs, his entire frame shaking so badly that Minho had pulled both Taemin and Kibum out of the room, leaving the two eldest alone.

"Is it true?" Onew's voice came out as a harsh whisper, threatening to cave in on itself as he looked back at Jonghyun. Jonghyun immediately looked away, and losing himself in his anger, Onew pushed him into a lying position, straddling his waist, "Tell me, Kim Jonghyun."

Jonghyun spoke in broken whispers, "I had everything, hyung. A world stage, a record deal, a beautiful place to live, an amazing girlfriend... but none of that meant anything when you weren't here. I thought it would be less painful if I were dead, hyung."

Seoul, 2008

The following monday morning, Jinki walked through the school hallways in high spirits. He had slept late the night before, but did not mind it as he spent the evening hours of his Sunday baking cupcakes for every one of the performers in the talent exhibition. He stashed the many boxes of his cupcakes in the fridge of the student government and hoped that Changsun wouldn't eat them all on his own.

As he left the office, he couldn't stop the grin from lighting his face. Later today, there was supposed to be a dry run through of all the acts performing on the Talent Exhibition. In just a few words, Jinki felt that his life was incredible. His eyes swept through the large crowds in search for Jonghyun. He was confused of their current relationship status, as they only told each other they liked each other, but that was more than enough for Jinki as he whistled, a slight hop in his steps on his way to his locker. He was so distracted with his own thoughts that Jinki had run into someone and fell backwards onto the ground.

Laughing, Jinki climbed up to his feet, bowing at the person he bumped into. However, as he stood up again, he saw that he had bumped into Minho, with the rest of their friends standing around Jinki's locker. He only laughed louder, to the confusion of his friends, "Sorry, I didn't see you all here earlier."

"Jinki hyung." Taemin said with a bright smile, "Did something happen? You're happier than usual."

Jinki quickly glanced at Jonghyun who had a small grin on his face, concealing a chuckle. Jonghyun winked at Jinki and then shook his head, and Jinki believed that the shaking of his head meant that Jonghyun wanted to keep their relationship, or whatever it was, a secret. Instead, Jinki had only replied to the younger saying that he was excited for the rehearsal they would do later.

"We have over 30 acts for Friday!" Jinki grinned, practically jumping in his spot, "They said they might cancel classes to give us more time for performances."

"No doubt it's because of that competition." Kibum muttered in disgust, shaking his head, "The art wing doesn't even have many pieces for our expo this year!"

Chuckling softly, Minho reached his hand out to pat Kibum's shoulder, "It's not like you'll need it. You always get the award for the best piece, anyway."

Sunggyu and his friend Woohyun popped up, then, Sunggyu quickly shooting a smile at Jinki before he spoke, "So this year's after exhibition party is at your house, right?"

"A party?" Jonghyun asked in clear disbelief, raising an eyebrow at Jinki, "You don't seem to be the type to throw parties."

Suddenly, an arm was thrown around Jinki's shoulder, and his body was pulled toward someone, but when he turned, it was only Yoseob. He waved and chuckled at Jinki's friends, "I heard you talk about the party. We usually throw it at Changsun's family restaurant, but it would be a shame if we didn't throw a party at Jinki's mansion."

Quickly, Jinki slapped his hand over Yoseob's mouth as he pouted slightly, "Don't keep telling everyone!"

Woohyun, being a naturally greasy male, reached his hand out and gently pulled at Jinki's cheek, "How are you so cute, hyung?" He then turned around, waving brightly at Kibum, "We should get to class, shouldn't we?"

Kibum nodded with a slight smile and walked past the crowd of men, walking off with Woohyun. Yoseob pulled Sunggyu by the arm and the two of them walked away, Minho and Taemin following them, leaving Jinki to blink as they left.

"We always end up being the last two." Jonghyun chuckled and leaned up, briefly pressing his lips against Jinki's cheek before walking forward, "Come on, I'll walk you to-"

"Jonghyun-ah!" Jessica called from across the hall, and the two males looked up at the younger female as she walked over to them, smiling brightly, "I have good news! I talked to my boss, and they said that even if there's a chance you'll lose the competition, they'll accept you as a trainee."

Widening his eyes, Jonghyun leaned in, putting his hands on Jessica's shoulders and shaking her slightly, "Really? But why?"

Jessica pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and went through her videos, "I took a video of you singing the other day. They think you'll be a great asset to the company."

"Oh, I can't thank you enough." Jonghyun said, and Jinki watched the two of them speak for a solid five minutes before huffing silently to himself.

Feeling out of place and a bit jealous, Jinki slipped away from the two of them, sulking as he went to class. Jonghyun was supposed to take him, but he would be too excited and preoccupied by Jessica's news to remember. He glanced back for a moment to see Jonghyun and Jessica speaking with bright smiles, and sighing, Jinki continued walking to class, his shoulders hunched over.

Jinki knew he was being childish, but for the entire day, whenever he knew Jonghyun would be near, Jinki would keep his head down, his eyes glued to the ground. His friends had found him on their way to lunch, but a discouraged Jinki had answered in one word sentences and then looked away from them when he realized Jonghyun was giving