“Aishhhh… Chanyeoooool… Why do I have to be awake so early?!” Liz whined as she tried desperately to remain on the bed, despite Chanyeol tugging her off by her ankles. It had been a few months since her and Cat’s birthdays, and it was now fully turned into Fall weather, and the chill that permeated the air certainly ensured she didn’t want to get out of bed.

“Because it’s filming day, you dork. You know that.” He chuckled quietly, stifling his own yawn as he gave her leg another tug. “Come on. We have to make sure the others are awake already.”

“Of course I am! Do you think I even slept?” Cat’s voice came from the end of the hallway, nervous and shaky. When she rounded the corner Liz was surprised to see just how pale she was, and how pink her lips were from where she undoubtedly chewed them. “C’mon Liz… we need to go.”

“Yea yea yea… I’m up. I’m up, I said!” Liz yelped as Chanyeol gave her legs one last tug, pulling her from the mattress and onto the floor. Grumbling as she rubbed her bum, she stood up, glaring at the idol that was now doubled over with laughter. “Now get out… I need to change. Cat, you stay.”

Nodding, Cat stepped into the room and closed the door behind Chanyeol as he left, laughing quietly as he began bellowing ‘IT’S TIME TO GOOOO!!!’ at the top of his lungs to wake up the others. “He’s not going to be very popular if he keeps that up.” She chuckled as she slid her arms into her hoodie pocket, looking at Liz with nervous eyes.

Liz smiled faintly and walked over, hugging her sister tightly. “I really like the color of your hair now. It suits you.” Reaching out, Liz gently touched the dark brown strands which had been so recently died by the stylists. “I’m glad you’re letting Mr. President doll you up. You need it.” Grinning teasingly, she nudged her with her elbow until she laughed.

“Thaaaaanks. I’m still not used to it… But Sehun likes it.” Cat smirked lasciviously, winking as Liz rolled her eyes.

“Yea, I know. We all know. We could hear you two last night.” Laughing as Cat’s face turned bright red she grinned and turned to her closet, dressing simply in skinny jeans and a comfy cream-colored sweater while letting her hair spill over her shoulders. “Are you ready for this, Kitty Cat?”

“I don’t know… I’m so nervous!” She whimpered, absently throwing Liz’s blankets back onto the bed and fidgeting with the tassel on the edge. “How did you feel when you were in SHINee’s video?”

“About as nervous as you are, remember?” She replied as she clipped magnetic talon earrings to her lobes and tugged tall brown boots onto her feet.

“Aishhh… why couldn’t it just be you in it?!” Cat whined, flopping onto the bed and shoving her face into the blanket.

“Uhm, because the role is playing Sehun’s love interest? Who better than his actual girlfriend?” Liz smiled and walked over, rubbing her sister’s back for a moment. “You’ll do fine. Now come on, we have to get going.” She murmured as she grabbed her sunglasses from the bedside table.

Right as the words left the bedroom door swung open, and Chanyeol barreled inside, covering his eyes with his hands. “Are you ?!”

“…No. I’m dressed.” Liz chuckled, picking Cat up from the bed and smoothing her hair down.

“Damn! I missed it.” He grinned, dropping his hands from his eyes and winking at Liz as she stuck her tongue out at him. “C’mon. The vans are here already!” Smiling, he walked out of the room and ran down the hallway toward the front door.

A very disheveled and sleepy-eyed Sehun soon filled the empty space, smiling softly at Cat and reaching out for her hand. “Come on babe. We need to go. Morning, Liz.”

“Moooorning…” Liz smirked, arching her eyebrow at him and glancing up at his disheveled hair. “Nana-ah certainly has her work cut out for her with your makeup, Sehun. You should know better than to stay up late exercising.”

Sehun’s face flamed red and he stammered for a minute, and then swallowed hard. “Well… I need to stay strong.”

“Strength has noooothing to do with it.” Nana’s voice chirped from the hallway, and the three turned to see the other woman standing in the doorway, leaning against it with Tao close behind. “It’s all about how you work it!” Grinning, she began pelvic ing in the hall, much to the amusement of Tao.

“And from what we heard last night, you know how to work it, Sehun-ah.” Tao teased, chuckling as both Cat’s and Sehun’s faces turned bright red again. “Come on, now. Chanyeol’s going to murder us if we take much longer.” Slipping his hand into Nana’s, he turned and began to walk toward the front door.

“We’ll see you downstairs!” Nana grinned, waving as she followed him toward the door.

“They’re right. We need to get going.” Sehun acquiesced, yawning and taking Cat’s hand in his. “Come on ladies.” Smiling reassuringly, he gently gave her hand a tug and led her from the room toward the door.

Together the three of them made their way downstairs, to where all the other members were standing putting on masks, beanies and sunglasses. Sehun and Cat had carefully separated, as had Tao and Nana and Chanyeol paid no attention to Liz as she approached. In the past few weeks they all had been extra careful to not allow the fans to put two and two together, especially since they wanted to go public soon.

Grabbing a beanie Sehun pulled it on over his blond hair, soon following it with a black face mask and large sunglasses. Shrugging on his black and white baseball jacket, he risked a look over his shoulder at Cat who was covering her hair carefully. Her hair, which hadn’t been debuted to the public yet, was tucked underneath her own beanie allowing her fringe to brush her brows gently, and sunglasses covered the eyes he had grown to love so much.

Liz left her hair uncovered, as did Nana, but both slid sunglasses on their faces. Since the three girls weren’t idols they didn’t need to be as ‘sneaky’ as the rest of them, and they had a bit more freedom. However, it was still a good idea to keep some things covered from the fans. Liz shrugged on her brown jacket, buttoning it up to her neck and smiled to the bodyguards, who nodded and pushed the door open.

Screams of excitement echoed through the lobby as fans saw the idols within, and soon fanchants were audible as they tried to catch specific member’s attention. Quickly Liz strode to the front of the group and grinned reassuringly. “Let’s go, guys! Stick together! Nana, you get in the middle, Cat you follow up behind okay? Quickly now!” Turning around on her heel, she stepped through the open doors, immediately flanked by bodyguards and assistants.

Hands reached out toward her, crying questions and chanting her name. With a small smile she gently brushed her fingers against the outstretched hands, causing the fans to jump up and down excitedly. Xiumin and Kai followed closely behind her, their hands resting on her back as they tried to stay close but at the same time be there if she needs them.

Nana was in the middle, waving to fans excitedly as she stood between Chen and Luhan. Fans cried out to her and the guys, and she blew kisses to them, much to the girls’, and Tao’s, chagrin. Cat stood at the back of the line, her hands resting lightly on Suho and D.O’s back, quietly murmuring to them to keep moving forward.

“Cat-ah!! Why is your hair covered?! Are you sick?!” Voices cried to her, and she smiled softly, shaking her head. Suddenly a hand outstretched and snatched the hat from her head, causing her hair to spill down her back in the dark tendrils. “You dyed it!”

“YA!” Cat cried out in pain as her hair was also pulled with the beanie, and she reached out to try to grab her beanie back from the fan that was clutching it to her chest with a desperate expression. “Give it back!”

Screams of excitement responded to her, and before she knew it Sehun was by her side, glaring at the girl and yanking the beanie from her hand. Gently he placed it back on Cat’s head, ignoring the need to re-hide her hair, still glowering at the fans who were now desperately trying to reach out and touch him. For a moment he paused as he stared at them, then wordlessly reached down and took Cat’s hand in his and walked back to the group as they lingered outside the van, watching. Tao was poised to run over if need be, and Chanyeol was watching them very carefully as well.

Immediately Cat saw the fans lunge toward them and froze in terror, clinging to Sehun’s hand. With a tug he yanked her forward and in front of him, one hand locked in hers and the other pushing her toward Liz who had her hands outstretched for her sister. “Get in, both of you!” He barked, pushing her into Liz’s arms before turning around to block the door from the fans that were now fighting with the bodyguards to get closer.

“Are you okay?” Xiumin asked worriedly as Cat slid in beside him, and he wrapped his arms around her protectively as he watched the others trying to get into one van, since the second one was out of reach due to the swarm of fans. When he realized how packed it would be he pulled the shocked girl onto his lap and called to Sehun to get in.

Hearing his hyung, he whipped around and nodded, running into the van beside him and opening his arms. Eagerly Cat crawled onto his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face into his shoulder. Fans screamed outside as they could see their interaction, but they were soon silenced as, somehow, Tao, Chanyeol and Liz climbed in as well.

“Well… This is cozy.” Chanyeol muttered as he sat down on the floor in front of the door. “Are you okay, Cat?”

Liz stood in the van, one hand on the ceiling to steady herself as it left the curb, the other reaching to pull off Cat’s beanie. With a gentle finger she probed her scalp, and then sighed with relief. “No damage done. It’ll hurt, but they didn’t rip any hair out.” Smushing herself on the floor between the two front seats, where Kris and D.O were sharing the front passenger, she tucked her legs to her chest and looked at Sehun, lips pursed. “This isn’t good… The fans will figure it out now.”

“I don’t care. She was being hurt. Again.” He muttered, wrapping his arms around her waist and holding her close. Xiumin was absently rubbing her back as he stared out the window, and Sehun smiled gratefully at his hyung. “We’ll just need to talk to Mr. President about speeding up the process.”

Liz nodded thoughtfully, glancing over at Chanyeol nervously. His pursed lips told her instantly he was just as nervous about the situation as she was which certainly didn’t help her. Glancing over toward Nana, she couldn’t help but laugh as she saw Tao was sitting on her lap, but also had his legs stretched across Chen, Suho and Kai’s laps. “Well that looks cozy.”

“Shut uuuuup.” Nana whine as she fidgeted underneath him, her blue hair starkly contrasted against Tao’s dark jacket. “He has a bony !”

Tao laughed and squirmed around, causing the entire back seat to cry out in protest. When the guys started slapping his legs he whined and frowned, swatting at their hands. “Okay! Okay! I’ll stop!”

Liz grinned and leaned against the side of the seat, starting at Sehun and her sister. She smiled warmly as she watched Sehun lean close to Cat’s ear, murmuring something clearly intended just for her. Sighing, she pulled out her itinerary, and skimmed over it. “Okay guys, here’s what will be happening when we get there. First? Wardrobe. Get dressed as soon as possible. Secondly go to hair, and then to makeup. Luckily Nana won’t have much to do on you guys, but we still need this to go as smooth as possible, considering Cat won’t be able to help her. Are you sure you’ll be fine on your own, Nana?”

“I’ll be fine, chief!” She replied with a grin, giving her the thumbs up.

Smiling Liz nodded, and looked back down to the sheet. “Cat will be getting ready around the same time, but Sehun, you won’t see her until the moment you need to, okay?”

“Fiiiiine…” He pouted, and then grinned as Cat poked him in the side. “What?!”

“Behave.” Cat chastised with a smile, rubbing her nose against his cheek. She twisted on his lap and looked to Nana. “If you need help though, I can help for a bit.”

“No you can’t! You have to do makeup and stuff. Yours takes a lot longer.” Nana grinned. “Besides, we need to make you super pretty for Sehun!”

As the two girls began to bicker about whether or not Cat was pretty already, Liz chuckled and ran her hand through her hair absently. The sudden feeling of someone staring at her came over and she looked toward the door, seeing Chanyeol staring at her intently. Without saying a word she arched her brow in question, but he merely smiled and shook his head and turned back to the window, leaving her to stare at him in confusion… what was he up to?