A/N: Aaaaaaand, I'm back! And c'mere how come there're no comments for the last chapter? There're subscribers so whyyyyyyyyy. Please comment, pretty please? Even an "I'm reading this" would be good! And I think this chapter was really well done /shameless pimping/ because, idk, it's the longest to date! Nah, but I do hope y'all enjoy this! And onward we journey into the land of Yunjae...

"I… don’t think we should be together anymore.”

“But why? I thought we were fine!”

“You thought? Well, let me tell you now, we’re not. How long has it been since the last time we’ve talked? All you think of is training and debuting, what about me?”

“You know I’m trying my best-“

“Now you know, your best is not enough.”

This was how Yunho found him. On the rooftop, with a tearstained face, hugging his legs close to him.

“Jaejoong hyung I just went to this really cool barbeque restaurant we should go- Hey, what’s wrong?” Yunho was in the midst of recounting his delicious dinner when he noticed something wrong with his hyung. “Did something happen? Come on now don’t cry.” Yunho gingerly sat down on the rooftop’s floor and rested Jaejoong’s head on his chest.

“Nothing, really.” Jaejoong stuttered out. But it was of course obvious to Yunho that it was not okay.

“Okay okay, if you say so.” Yunho soothed the older man by rubbing circles on his back until his sobs had subsided.

“Actually, my girlfriend just broke up with me. Said that I was neglecting her and everything…” Fat tears rolled down Jaejoong’s cheeks again. Yunho did not reply but merely let Jaejoong cry his heart out, wetting his entire shirt in the process. He did not mention that this shirt would have to be re-worn for the next week.

“There, there. She must be blind to let you go, it’s her loss anyway.” Yunho said, trying to be comforting. It should be noted at this point that Yunho was a really lousy comforter. Nevertheless, he was trying his best.

“But.. I really loved her. I thought we would get married and have kids and everything, the whole package y’know.”Jaejoong sobbed even harder.

“Then all the more you should be glad that this happened. Would you really like to live with someone who can’t weather through the tough times with you?” Yunho questioned thoughtfully.

“I-I-I guess so,” Jaejoong thought. “Maybe this will be for the better.”

“Yes, it will be.”

★★★★★

“Uh huh, I see. Sure, I’ll tell Yunho.”

He had just received a call from his pseudo-manager (which could not actually be called a real manager as they had not debuted yet) who had asked Yunho and him to head to the President’s office at approximately 1.30pm. Knowing that this involved something of utmost importance, Jaejoong crossed his fingers as he relayed the message to Yunho.

“Hey, Yunho-ya, get up,” Jaejoong nudged the round bulge in the blanket. This caused it to move slightly, and a groan was emitted from under the blankets. Preparing to perform his ultimate trick, he moved closer to said bed and started unleashing his tickles on poor Yunho.

“Aishhh, stop it,” Yunho managed to sit up despite the ticklish feeling and half-laughed while shouting it.

“Get up, manager hyung wants us to meet him in his office in an hour.” Jaejoong became more serious, almost speaking in a whisper as if he was afraid someone would overhear.

Yunho stared at Jaejoong, mentally debating if he was telling the truth. On one hand, Jaejoong was totally the type to pretend there was a meeting and wait until Yunho was fully prepared to tell him that there was never a meeting in the first place. But, Jaejoong’s serious expression seemed to tell him that there was indeed a serious matter this time.

“Okay, just give me a few minutes, I’ll go get ready,” Yunho muttered, running a hand through his unruly lion-like hair.

Pacing outside in the living room, Jaejoong ruminated in his thoughts. Why would manager hyung ask to meet them so urgently? As far as he knew, managers for trainees were nothing more than glorified babysitters. Usually they would be left to their own devices, only meeting him to obtain their monthly pocket money or when they had done something extremely wrong, like that time Jaejoong got drunk and had almost gotten into a fight if not for Yunho and Heechul restraining him. Could it have something to do with the new boy group Yunho had mentioned to him earlier? Would they really get to debut or would they be dropped like flies because they hadn’t met the company’s expectations?

“Alright, let’s go then.” Jaejoong shaped his features into a smile as he turned to see Yunho coming out of his room. “I don’t really know what this meeting is for but let’s just get it over and done with, eh?” Jaejoong said easily, betraying what he was really thinking.

The ride there was a silent one. Jaejoong stared out of the window, not knowing whether to anticipate or dread the meeting. He clenched his fists as a frisson of fear ran through his heart. What would he do if he got dropped? He had dropped his entire life back in Gongju for this. No, he needed to survive.

As if sensing Jaejoong’s thoughts, Yunho turned and gave him a reassuring smile while slipping his fingers into the older’s hand. Jaejoong looked startled for a moment, then relaxed and calmed down somewhat, giving a grateful smile to his dongsaeng.

★★★★★

“Here, take a seat, any seat!” The manager gestured grandly around his office. This would probably have worked if there weren’t already three boys sitting awkwardly in the couch, trying their best not to touch each other. Jaejoong recognised one as Junsu, Yunho’s friend, and one as a trainee he’d seen sometimes around the building. He did not, however, recognise the third.

“Uhhhhh, it’s okay, we’ll just stand here,” Yunho answered smoothly for both Jaejoong and himself. Jaejoong once again felt gratefulness rush through him and gave Yunho’s arm a squeeze to express his feelings. Yunho had always been better with words anyway.

“Anyway, from now on, the five of you will be in a group. Lee Soo-man specifically requested to gather the five of you, so you should keep in mind that the chances of you debuting in this group is extremely high. Jaejoong and Yunho will have to move out of the dorm they share with Heechul and Youngwoon. Same for Junsu with Hyukjae and Sungmin. You should expect the training to be tougher and more rigorous than before, as this group is a highly-ranked one.” The manager said smoothly in one breath.

Jaejoong’s heart stopped beating for a split second.

“So this is just another project group then?” Yunho could not hide his excitement as he tried to verify what the manager had just said.

“For all purposes, yes. But this project group is different in the manner that there is an extremely high chance of you debuting in this group, so I suggest you all play nice to each other.” The manager replied, shooting a dirty look at Jaejoong who was known to get into catfights with Heechul frequently.

“Here’s the address and the keys, Yoochun’s stuff is already in it as he just flew in from America yesterday. I suggest the rest of you pack up your stuff and move in by tomorrow.” The manager pointed to the boy he had never seen before while saying this. Before he could process what was happening, Yunho was conveying his thanks to the manager and dragging Jaejoong out of the room. Jaejoong only had time to catch Junsu’s eye and give him a weak smile before the door was closed.

“You know what this means,” Yunho turned to Jaejoong with sparkling eyes. “We’re debuting!”

Jaejoong rolled the word in his mouth. “Debuting, debuting, debuting. Oh god we are gonna debut!” The thought finally sunk into his mind.

The bus ride home was a contrast from the ride there. It was filled with excited chattering and bouncing in seats. What are we gonna do now? Are we really debuting? Who were the other people at that meeting? And the most troubling one of all: How are we gonna tell Youngwoon and Heechul?

The apartment was empty when they entered it. Yunho sent a quick text to Heechul to tell them to be home ASAP while Jaejoong headed straight to his room to pack his luggage. Truth be told, he didn’t have a lot of belongings,

it’s just that they were scattered all around the room and even the apartment. While searching for his (actually it was Heechul’s) favourite black shirt, he heard voices coming from the living room.

“Hey Yunho, you wanted to talk to us?” Heechul said as he flippantly lounged on the couch.

“Yeah hyung, you see…” Yunho started, with a nervous edge in his voice.

Jaejoong hurriedly closed the door. He did not want to and could not bear to hear anymore. Lying on his bed, a thousand thoughts ran through his mind. Sure, his ultimate goal was debuting, but why was it so hard to leave his friends behind? He’d seen it himself, there were many friendships strained when one debuted and the other one did not. To himself, he did not want to leave all these behind. Those hours where they had practiced till late, the time when they went to Apgujung and got looked down upon.

“Hey Jaejoong hyung,” Yunho entered Jaejoong’s room and flopped onto his bed, shocking Jaejoong.

“Yunho-ya, what’s up?” Jaejoong tried to maintain his composure as he sat up, ruffling his dongsaeng’s hair.

“Today, you know the new trainee who was in the meeting today.” Yunho started, only to be interrupted by Jaejoong. “Oh you mean that stringy guy who looked so pampered, people say that he was actually scouted by Jongmin sunbaenim.”

“Yeah him. Actually, I kinda scolded him the first time we met.” Yunho admitted guiltily.

“What? What did that poor boy ever do to you?”

“Nothing, really. I was just fed up with all those trainees coming and leaving. So I… kind of told him to just leave if he was gonna give up.”

“… You need to play nice, Yunho.”

“I will! It was just that one time.”

★★★★★

. Jaejoong broke up with his girlfriend just before debuting. As DBSK only trained together for a few months, I’ll just assume it happened before the formation.

. Something that is often said is that S.M. was running out of money at that time and thus they threw five of their most talented trainees together (aka DBSK) so that they would be able to gain maximum profit. Edit: Oh, it was called the DreamTeam Project apparently!

. Jaejoong and Heechul are still very close friends irl.

. Changmin was scolded (not really but at the same time yes) by Yunho the first time they met.