Kangin cracked his knuckles, grinning. What a relief, leaving that stupid company. It had never really been his style. The whole dancing, singing, wearing makeup thing was messed up in his opinion. The whole time he was a trainee, he asked himself, "What am I even doing here?"

                Well, he knew kind of what he was doing there, and it didn't have anything to do with a love of the industry. It had to do with slim fingers and twinkling eyes and a bright smile.

                It had been such a strange request from his sister. It wasn't even like they were all that close, even. They were too different to ever really have any sort of good brother sister bonding time. His sister was one of those anime fangirls…tiny, spastic, and way too upbeat for Kangin's taste. She was the kind of girl that got obsessed with any TV show she saw. When she saw America's Next Top Model, she was sure she was going to one day be on that show, even if she was only 4'11. Then, she had this CSI phase, and she wanted to be a prosecutor or something. Then she finally got into some sort of anime thing where a normal girl turned into an idol star, and she got it into her tiny brain that she wanted to be an idol.

                Kangin was just the opposite. He was steady and serious, and while he was a huge sports fan—he always loved watching the games, followed players, and collected trading cards when he was younger—he knew he'd never be a famous sports star. That was just completely ridiculous. Normal guys like him just didn’t become famous like that. That required immense training, and more than that, natural talent. And that was something Kangin just didn't have.

                Yeah, sure, maybe he was on the school judo and swimming team, and maybe he was the best in the school. But he knew his limits. And besides, he never ever wanted to be famous. From what he saw of it, it was nothing more than a pain in the neck. You couldn't even sneeze without it turning into a huge, career threatening scandal.

                So, thank you, no. He was comfortable with his criminal justice major, and normal plans in life.

                That is, he was. Until his sister got it into her head that she was going to try out for SM entertainment, and he'd had to go with her for 'moral support.' He'd gone complaining the whole way, wanting so much more to do anything else with his time that didn't include waiting endlessly in a room full of wannabe divas.

                When they got there, he left the waiting room immediately. He just was not comfortable at all with crowds, and even more when these rooms were so chock full of hairspray that it nearly suffocated. Worse when there were about twenty different songs playing at the same time in a crazy, confused noise, and there were a bunch of chicks practicing dancing, singing, banging together pans, and doing all they could to stress out Kangin with the loud, chaotic noise.

                He escaped to the hallway, where it was a little calmer. He rested his back against the wall, sighing deeply, taking in his quiet surroundings with more ease. Across the hall was a small, dirty window, which looked out to the street. The ceiling tiles were slightly cracked, and the floor was dirty. A person walked past him to the water fountain, getting a drink of water. That seemed like a good idea to him, so he went in line, waiting for his turn. The boy didn't notice him though, and when he turned around, he ran into Kangin full force.

                "Whoa! Sorry about that!" The boy exclaimed, delicate hands fluttering across his chest in an effort to undo the damage, somehow. Kangin looked down at the boy, who looked back with innocent eyes.

                "Uh, no, it's fine. Sorry I snuck up on you like that." He grumbled, and the boy smiled. Kangin felt his world go a little shaky.

                "Oh, that's fine. But are you all right? You're not hurt or anything, are you?"

                "No, of course not. And you…are you all right?" Kangin asked, holding the boy's wrist in his hand. "Did you get hurt?"

                "No, I'm fine!" The boy blushed, waving his hands frantically. "Nothing wrong here!"

                "That's good, then." Kangin grinned shyly. A long silence fell upon the two. "Are you trying out today?" Kangin asked.

                "No," the boy giggled. I'm already in. I'm a trainee. Oh yeah. My name is Leetuek. Nice to meet you. What's your name?"

                "Kim Youngwoon." He answered, blinking slowly. Why was this boy so beautiful to him? "Nice to meet you, too."

                The boy smiled. "Are you a trainee, here?"

                "No." Kangin answered dumbly, and winced as Leeteul's face fell.

                "Oh. Are you trying out, then?"

                "Uh, yeah." Kangin lied, wanting to make Leeteuk happier. He sighed a relieved breath as Leeteuk smiled once again.

                "That's great, then! I'll be seeing you around, then!" He smiled brightly, giving Kangin a firm handshake before veritably skipping away.

                Kangin looked after the boy in a daze. Shaking his head, he wondered aloud, "Get it together, Youngwoon. Why are you being like this?" He mumbled, hitting his head with the palm of his hand.

                But all the same, he went back in to the room and auditioned.

                When he'd been accepted he hadn't known whether to be happy or not.

                But soon after that kid had left the company, Kangin had a moment of clarity. He finally realized that he was in the wrong place. That being an idol was definitely not for him, and he was ready to take his life in other directions completely. It was just that stupid boy with his stupid hypnotizing smile that had temporarily clouded his senses.

                As long as that boy stayed far away from him from now on, he'd be good. Well, it wasn't like they'd even talked after that, anyways. In fact, Leeteuk had been cruel enough to say "Nice to meet you," when they'd next seen one another, as if he didn't even remember the interaction. So, now that the kid was out of the company, and Kangin was, too, he could live his life in peace and harmony.

                He heard a knock at the door, and went to answer it. Probably one of his friends from the judo club or something. He opened the door roughly, grinning broadly.

                He looked down at the person at his doorstep, blinking.

                He blinked, and blinked again.

                Was he dreaming or something?

                Because that same angel-faced kid was on his doorstep, looking up at him hopefully. "It's nice to meet you," he said. "I'm Leeteuk."

                Kangin slammed the door shut.

__________

                Hankyung looked at his phone in horror. How could this have possibly happened? He'd tried his best to be the worst possible self in front of that judge's panel. He'd even gone as far as to curse out the head guy there, and break the face of one of the other auditionees.

                He'd done everything he could possibly do to not get accepted. So when he'd gotten that stupid call from that moron, Soo Man, he'd been less than thrilled.

                "Good thing I gave them a fake address" He said to himself, letting out a relieved breath. Now, all he needed to do was get rid of the phone so they couldn't trace it back to him. He took his SIM card out of his phone and snapped it in half, throwing it into the sewage drain. Then, he took his phone and chucked it into the river. There. It was done. Those morons were never gonna find him, now.

____________

                Heechul sat, bored, on the bus, thinking of things to do. She'd brought a book along to read, but somehow, she just didn't have any sort of desire to read at the moment. It wasn't that Heechul didn't like to read. In fact, she had random spurts of anti-socialness when the only thing she wanted to do was hole up in her room and read a book, or write a story, or write a song, or something equally creative. But these moments were usually few and far between,

                Right now, she was not in the mood to do any of those things she'd brought along. She her little address book, with all her phone contacts scribbled messily in the small notebook. Before she'd sold her phone, she'd thought it a good idea to write them all down by hand, so they wouldn't be lost.

                But now, she wondered if it was such a good idea, after all. Looking at the names, now she just seemed to want to call or text them so much…and yet, she couldn't. She'd need to get a phone fast. This whole deal of not having one was very irritating.

                She paused at one name in particular. Stupid Jerk, $20. Well, it wasn't exactly a name, because she'd forgotten the man's name, but it was enough for her to know who it was. Just taking money was not her style—Heechul hated being in debt to people. So, naturally, she'd ran after him, tackled him, and made him give her his number, so she could pay him back when she finally got back to Seoul.

                He'd given it, but she hadn't actually registered how much of a jerk he was, until he opened his mouth one more time.

                "Fine, you can pay me back…but it's toichi, got it? That means ten percent every ten days you don't pay it. So if you don't pay it in the next ten days, that'll be  $22…and if you do something ridiculous like waiting a year….that'll be…$562.04…So, pay up fast, cutie."

                "What?! That's not fair!"

                "It's the terms…unless you don't want the loan."

                "Fine! Fine! Then, give me your address." Heechul acquiesced. "I have 20 bucks at my house. I'll mail it to you."

                "Fine." Hankyung passed his address easily. "But be sure to pay. Come to think of it, Give me your phone number. I'll need it if I'm going to collect."

                "Fine. Do you want my address, too? Gonna go all the way to Gangwondo for 20 bucks?"

                "I'll take it. I won't go there for 20, but I'll definitely make the trip for 562…so, prepare yourself, hobo." Hankyung grinned evilly.

                "Fine." Heechul said. "I'm not gonna wait a year to pay, anyways."

                That had been the first thing Heechul did when she got home. She sent $24, just to be safe, and on top of it, paid the extra money to make it first class.

                There was no way she was gonna let this guy lord her debt over her head like some sort of self-entitled nincompoop. She sighed, turning the page again, wondering if she'd see the jerk again. Even if the experience was one of the worst she'd had, she did kind of want to see him again, just with their positions switched. She would so love to make that Chinese jerk feel like the pathetic moron he was.

___________

                Leeteuk looked at the closed door in confusion. What a rude person. What could Leeteuk have possibly done to deserve a door to the face, like that? He stood, dumbfounded, at the door, not even knowing what to do. He looked doubtfully at Lee Soo Man, who was waiting in the car. Soo Man didn't even look at him, busy with something else.

                Leeteuk looked back at the door. What was he supposed to do now? He knocked on the door again, nervous hand shaking. "Please, please, open." He prayed silently. "Please don't be too mad."

                Nothing. He waited to a count of thirty, then knocked yet again. Nothing. He waited another thirty seconds, and knocked again. Nothing. He knocked once more, and turned around, starting to walk to the car, shoulders heavy in defeat. When he was about three steps away, he heard the door open, and spun back.

                There was Kangin, looking…almost, sad. Resigned. "Look, what do you want?"

                "I…I wanted to…uh…it's that I'm the leader of the new boy band that SM is producing…and you are supposed to be one of the members. So, I wanted to…uh…convince you to join the band! Because, you know, you're really important, and talented, and…"

                Kangin got close, then, way into Leeteuk's personal space.

                "Am I important to you?" He asked, eyes boring holes into Leeteuk's. "Is it really that important to you that I join this thing?"

                "Yes." Leeteuk answered matter-of-factly, looking up at him innocently.

                "Fine, then. Wait a second. I'll get my bags packed." He went back into his house, and Leeteuk watched after him, dumbfounded. When he realized what had happened, he smiled broadly, looking back at Soo Man. Soo Man gave him the thumbs up.

                "That's our leader," He said, pulling down the window. "From now on, Leeteuk is doing all the recruitment!"

____________

                Sungmin had been relatively easy to convince as well. When Leeteuk appeared at his door, he'd gone into a long, detailed rant about the discrimination he suffered, being a gay man at SM.

               But Kangin shut him up pretty quickly. "That's a load of bull." He interrupted, and Leeteuk looked at him, eyes wide. They'd gone together to convince Sungmin, but Leeteuk already regretted it. Kangin didn't listen to Sungmin with any amount of respect. Leeteuk didn't exactly like Sungmin's stories. After all, he was not gay, and in fact did not even really like the gay population. It was something incredibly abnormal for him, and he did not like it in the least. But he did have to respect Sungmin, even more because he was going to be a member of the band.

                So, when Kangin interrupted, Leeteuk was horrified, already knowing what Kangin would probably say. A man like him was probably a lot more "homophobic" than Leeteuk, (although Leeteuk never liked that term. Why would he be called a name like that for having a natural revulsion to something that wasn't natural?) But, anyways. He knew Kangin was straight, just by looking at him. And even more, he just knew Kangin would say something offensive about the gay population, and offend the potential band member. He held his breath nervously.

                "I'm gay, too, and I never had any of that." Kangin said, face dead pan. Leeteuk choked, jaw dropping.

                "What?!?!" Leeteuk and Sungmin said together.

                "You…but you don't look gay at all!" Sungmin spluttered, and Leeteuk couldn't help but agree.

                "Well, I am. And it's not even like I make a big secret of it. But I don't believe you have to act like a girl to be gay. That's just stereotyping."

                "But…" Sungmin's arguments petered out, and he looked long at Kangin. "…Okay. Fine. I'll join the band. But only if you agree to go out with me!" He grinned, winking at Kangin.

                Leeteuk almost threw up right there. How revolting. A man, and a man…this was unnatural! He looked at Kangin, imagination running wild. As gay people were the type that were good with anything. Kangin would definitely accept, and then, he'd be forced to watch as they kissed, or something equally horrifying, and then—

                "I'm sorry, but I can't accept." He grabbed Leeteuk's hand, and Leeteuk didn't stop him, just happy that he wouldn't have to see a real life homoual make out seession in front of him. "Leeteuk and I are in a committed relationship. I couldn't do that to him."

                Leeteuk looked, horrified, at Kangin, mouth open.

                What?

                "Oh, in that case…I'll leave you guys alone. But are there other gay guys in the band? Do you think I could maybe have a chance at having a great love story like you guys?"

                "Look," Kangin advised. "I don't really know where your soulmate is hiding. "For Leeteuk and I, we met in completely unlikely circumstances…but now we're together. So, maybe your love is waiting for you in the band, or maybe somewhere else. But I do think you'll have a lot bigger chance of love as an idol than in whatever other career."

                "That's true. Fine, then, I'll join. I did kind of always think it was a glamorous career, anyways." I'll get my stuff." Sungmin went skipping to his room, and Kangin finally let go of Leeteuk's hand.

                "But…why? I'm not…I'm not gay!" was the only thing Leeteuk could think of saying.

                "Neither am I." Kangin explained. "But I said I was, just to show Sungmin…because how would a straight guy convince him there wasn't any discrimination? He wouldn't be able to. I wasn't expecting hi to ask me out, though. So I had to act fast. Sorry for using you in the lie."

                "Oh, no. That's fine. It makes sense." Leeteuk felt his breathing become normal as the pieces started fitting together in a more sensible way.

                "No, I'm really sorry. Because…now we're going to have to keep pretending in front of Sungmin…if he finds out it was all a lie, I think there's a good chance he'll feel so betrayed, he'll leave the band. And Like Soo Man told us in the car…without one, we all fall."

                "Oh, no." Leeteuk murmured.

                "But, I mean, you don't have to do anything…I can just tell him that we're not going out. That it's just me that's gay…he'l probably want to go out with me, but I'll just…take one for the team, I guess."

                "No, no! We can fake it! I'm sure it won't be too hard, anyways…Don't worry, I'm the leader, so I have to take care of the group. So, I will do my best! I will be the best fake boyfriend you've ever seen!" He announced, grinning.

                Kangin grinned back, and Leeteuk felt that this wouldn’t be too hard of an act to play. After all, Kangin was nice, friendly, funny…they just had to act like best friends…that sometimes held hands and stuff. That wouldn't be hard at all. And because of Kangin's quick thinking, the band would really be able to debut.

                Kangin was such a nice person.

______________

                Kangin grinned back at Leeteuk, hiding his inner feelings well.

                He was going to hell.

                Really, and truly. This was literally the best (and worst) idea he'd had in his entire life. The hell he wasn't gay. He'd known he was gay since he was fifteen years old, and had had his first kiss with a boy. Actually, for him, he was good with the two genders, but the point still remained. He was not the straight line Leeteuk thought.

                But going into a fake relationship with his straight crush…now, that was an evil of genius, and he planned to use the relationship to its fullest potential. He grinned.

                He was going to make Leeteuk turn if it was the last thing he did.

__________________________________________________________________________

AN: so, sorry it kinda took a while to write this chapter…I was a little without inspiration with the Kangteuk relationship…but now I'm actually like, really excited for their relationship…kkk.

Kangin is evil, and Leeteuk is clueless.

Thanks for your amazing comments, they always give me strength!!