You woke up around 11am the next day feeling refreshed. You knew that was probably the last decent night’s sleep you’d get in awhile with their latest comeback lurking just over the horizon. Rolling to your side you reached for your phone to check today’s schedule.

• 3PM Brunch with Lay
• 7PM Home Cooking with chef D.O.
• 8PM Fantastic Kim Brothers Karaoke Part 1
• 9PM Fantastic Kim Brothers Karaoke Part 2
• 11PM Baekhyun’s (Lol)ercoaster

Today was also the day that Yixing would return from China. All of the guys (as well as you) were incredibly excited for him to be back. You’d missed his calming presence and the way he could deliver a strong critique or opinion and not come off as rude or mean. You knew he’d been working hard on solo music & press conferences for The Mystic Nine while he was away and you couldn’t wait to see the fruits of his labour.

You didn’t have to be anywhere until 3 when Yixing’s broadcast was starting. You wouldn’t get to see him beforehand since he was going straight from the airport to the dorm and basically straight into the broadcast. The poor kid worked too hard and you still had no clue as to why SM scheduled his broadcast like this. You hoped it was so that he could get it done and then go rest until the next day.

You decided to do some grocery shopping and make yourself snacks to take with you to the comeback specials and various events during the week. Everyone had lead you to believe that you’d barely have enough time to blink let alone stop for a proper meal. You figured you’d make some sandwiches and little snack packs of biscuits, mixed nuts and lollies to give you those extra bursts of energy you might need to get you through the day.

Before you knew it, you had a weeks worth of portioned snack and your fridge actually resembled the home of an organised person who didn’t live off take out. You glanced up at the clock and realised you only had fifteen minutes before you had to head upstairs to the dorm so you quickly tidied the kitchen and grabbed a small packet of biscuits to put in one of the pockets in your hoodie then made your way up to the dorm.

When you arrived upstairs it was much more crowded than the previous day but as you shuffled your way to the front of the crowd you realised it was because all eight of them were standing there preparing to watch Yixing’s broadcast. He was laughing and chatting with the guys as one of the stylists fixed his hair and makeup. You overheard small parts of their conversation and tried not to laugh at how determined they were to stay and watch. “Guys come on, you’ll see me after. This is embarrassing if you stay and watch!”

“We’ve missed you hyung.” Baekhyun pouted.

“The dorm isn’t right when you’re not here.” Sehun mumbled shyly.

“Please, they’ll listen to you for the next two weeks without any complaint. Just let them watch.” Suho chuckled. “And we really have missed you. It’s good to have you back.” He smiled and patted Yixing’s shoulder.

Yixing grinned and acquiesced. He moved to the little table and chair that was set up for him and took a seat. “Can I eat everything on here?” He asked the director.

“It’s brunch so eat as you talk with the fans and play songs. The fortune cookies have questions in them so don’t overdo it on those.” Was the response he received. He nodded and prepared to start the broadcast. The director turned to the others. “You can stay but if you distract him or make too much noise I’m kicking you out. This is supposed to be a nice intimate brunch with Lay, got it?” The members all nodded, Chanyeol hiding a yawn as he sipped on his coffee.

The broadcast was sweet and much like the true professional he was, you would not have known that he’d just flown in from China and come straight to recording. You couldn’t help but smile as he answered fan questions in Korean and Mandarin and played snippets of the music he’d been making.

Jongdae had snuck up next to you as you watched the recording. “Hyung really is special.” He started. “He works harder than all of us and hardly ever complains. He refuses to rest so putting him to bed is always a challenge but we’re constantly in awe of his commitment and passion to everything he does.” You glanced at Jongdae’s face and saw him watching Yixing with adoration and respect. The soft smile on his face as Yixing shared music and discussed collaborating with Jongdae on some songs made you smile.

Before you could respond Jongdae moved and went back to his spot amongst the rest of the guys. The rest of Yixing’s broadcast went by in a blur and before you knew it he’d wrapped and was being engulfed by s in a crushing hug. His musical laughter sounded above them. “Alright, alright! I missed you too but I need to breathe.” Slowly and reluctantly they let go of him, allowing him the space he’d asked for.

You wanted nothing more than to run over and hug him as well but you had to remain professional and wait until later because there was no way you weren’t going to give him a bone crushing hug as soon as you were able to. He looked away from s and spotted you, smiling and inclining his head in a polite nod.

The guys were corralled and directed towards the front door so that they could go to dance practice for the rest of the day, with Kyungsoo, Minseok, Jongdae & Baekhyun returning in a few hours to complete their broadcasts. The others, Yixing included, would remain at the studio until later that night. “See you tomorrow teacher-nim!” Yixing called as he was being escorted out the door, smiling brightly and waving as he left. I missed that dork. You thought to yourself.

***

You had to keep stifling your giggles at the adorable level of chaos that was unfolding in front of you. Kyungsoo was cooking and that alone would have been enjoyable to watch but when you added both Jongae & Minseok in the mix as they read the comments out and tried to distract Kyungsoo hilarity ensued. “This comment.” Jongdae started, laughing while trying to speak as he pointed at the tablet. “A fan said this, should we say it?”

Minseok peered over his shoulder and grinned. “D.O. is cute!” He burst into an adorable fit of giggles as soon as he finished saying it, glancing over at Kyungsoo and waiting for his reaction. Kyungsoo gave Minseok a look that only made him laugh harder before ignoring the comment and continuing to cook. He kept telling stories of getting to visit his mother when he had down time and how they’d gone for walks. You could see the joy on his face when he talked about her and it made you smile.

When he finally finished cooking his dish both Minseok & Jongdae tasted it. You knew they liked his cooking and constantly told you that he was the best cook in the dorm but this was a new dish, something they hadn’t had before and they were cautious with their tasting. From the looks on their faces you could tell they were pleasantly surprised.

Kyungsoo’s broadcast finished up and the three guys quickly tidied up the kitchen. Minseok took charge and did the dishes whilst Jongdae cleaned up the scraps and rubbish and Kyungsoo wiped down the benches.

You had a small break as Jongdae & Minseok’s makeup was touched up before they moved to the living room where a karaoke machine had been set up. You could see Baekhyun wandering in and out of the gaming room he was in as each broadcast started. If you didn’t know better you’d say he was bored but you could see the mischievous smirk on his face and knew he was just biding his time before making an unplanned cameo in a broadcast. If you were a gambling woman you’d have guessed it would be during Jongdae & Minseok’s broadcasts since he spent much more time with them and for some reason Minseok had a high tolerance when it came to dealing with him whereas Kyungsoo would have retaliated as soon as the cameras were off, and the missed Yixing so he was never going to disrupt his broadcast.

Karaoke started and you were swept away by Jongdae’s voice. You’d only ever heard them sing to annoy each other in the dorm, not like this. His voice had completely captured your attention that you nearly jumped out of your skin when Kyungsoo spoke from next to you. “He was born to sing. He has one of those voices that just warms your being, it’s like a hug.”

You nodded because you were lost for words. “Baekhyun too, you feel the emotion when he sings.” He paused. “But don’t tell him I said that. I’ll never hear the end of it since the thoroughly enjoys singing loudly and off key in the dorm.” He shook his head and chuckled.

“What about you?” You asked.

“Me?”

“Yeah. Aren’t the three of you the main vocals?”

“I guess, I’m the soul. Jongdae is the foundation, Baekhyun the emotion and I’m the soul.” He responded.

“I look forward to hearing everyone tomorrow. I’ve only seen a few clips and heard your songs, I can’t wait to see the difference when it’s live.” You smiled.

“I hope we can live up to expectation. Now I’ll bid you goodnight, I’m going to go and try to get a good night’s rest before tomorrow.” He bowed slightly and took off down one of the halls to his room. How he or any of the others would be able to sleep with karaoke going on was beyond you.

Focusing your attention back onto the karaoke you saw that Jongdae had finished and Minseok was now picking a song as they checked the comments. It occurred to you that this was the first time you’d really seen the guys interact with their fans. Sure you’d seen a few videos online when you did some initial research into the group but seeing it now that you knew them well in both a professional and private sense was different. You knew them outside of their idol lives and it still struck you when you remembered just how famous these nine guys were.

As Minseok started singing the song he’d auditioned with you were blown away by his gentle angelic voice. It was not what you had expected him to sound like but you were thoroughly impressed. As if sensing the spell Minseok was putting over the room with his song Baekhyun crept in and pretended to belt out the song into his phone.

They tried to get Baekhyun to stay and sing a song but he ran off to prepare for his broadcast. Soon enough their karaoke broadcast came to an end and they took a brief break while the second part of their broadcast was set up. A few of the guys started to trickle back into the dorm and you greeted each one as they passed through. Chanyeol had apparently gone to his studio and Kai and Yixing were still practicing. You spotted Sehun whining at Kyungsoo about food and then Kyungsoo dragging the younger back towards the kitchen as he begrudgingly started to make him some food.

In your periphery you spotted Baekhyun chatting to Minseok. “Hyung please, I’m already bored. It’ll be more fun if you play with me.”

“Baek, I need to rest.”

“You got to sleep in today, please. I’ll make it up to you hyung. Just one game then you can leave to sleep. I’ve been reading the comments and aeri’s are really liking seeing more of you.”

You missed the last part of their exchange when one of the producers came to ask you a question but from the excited look on Baekhyun’s face as he disappeared into the dorm you were pretty sure he’d won Minseok over.

The second part of the broadcast started and you watched as Minseok & Jongdae took questions and provided advice, disagreeing on the advice given almost every time. Minseok’s sneaky answers kept making you stifle a laugh. A fan pointed out Minseok’s stubble much to his horror. You’d never seen a man in his twenties freak out about stubble showing. Idol life was still so strange to you.

Eventually their second broadcast came to an end. As soon as they were done Jongdae let out a big yawn before getting up and thanking every staff member for their hard work. Before Minseok could stop him, he’d disappeared and you assumed he’d gone to shower and sleep.

The staff spent the next hour getting both computers set up in the back of the dorm, as far away from the bedrooms as possible. Baekhyun had been playing games to pass the time and you could see why he kept emerging from the room to see what everyone else was up to. The back room had no windows and was quite small. Apparently it had been a spare room once upon a time. 11PM finally rolled around and Minseok reappeared after refuelling with coffee. It was time for the final broadcast before the comeback.

You felt for the kid. He’d been so excited to do a games broadcast and he was good at LoL… just not tonight. Tonight their opponents were just too skilled and the rest of their team just wasn’t up to the task. It didn’t help that Minseok hadn’t played in awhile but Baekhyun kept reassuring him that it wasn’t his fault that they were losing.

All you could think of every time you saw Baekhyun tense up was how well he was doing to not just yell or swear at the game. It’s what inevitably happened every time you saw anyone play LoL yet Baekhyun was managing to hold it together. Sure it meant he was silent and looked angry at times but the self control he had to keep his cool was admirable.

Managing to keep his cool didn’t prove to be enough and they lost all of the games they played that night. The broadcast was still fun and mostly light hearted. You didn’t miss the crestfallen look on Baekhyun’s face when he realised that he’d accidentally shown his user ID to their fans. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to create a whole new login to continue being able to play. The boys ended their broadcast and thanked all of the staff. They got up and offered to you to the door, claiming they had something to ask you before you left.

“Did you enjoy the broadcasts?” Baekhyun asked.

“I did, they were all quite diverse and entertaining. I hadn’t really experienced any of you interacting with fans yet so it was good to see how you speak to them and act in front of the cameras.”

“We’re not too different are we?” Minseok asked.

“No. When you’re talking to them like this it’s quite similar to how you normally are, just less swearing and slang. It’ll be interesting to compare it with tomorrow’s comeback stage.” You responded.

Baekhyun smiled as he opened the front door to their dorm. “It was fun having you around for the day. Rest up because this is the last proper night of sleep you’re gonna get for awhile. Trust us.” Minseok chuckled but made no move to correct Baekhyun. You bid them both goodnight and headed back down to your apartment.

Sleep came easily to you that night. You’d been worried that you would start to fret over their big day tomorrow but you kept reminding yourself that this was not their first comeback, that they knew what they were doing and that you weren’t working tomorrow, you were just attending to get a feel for the format for when you were overseas with them.

***

“Chanyeol, why do you look like you’re bleeding?” You asked, hearing Sehun chuckle in the background.

“I dyed my hair last night!” He responded, a big smile on his face. “Do you like the colour?”

“The red suits you but the bleeding effect does not. Is it gonna run when you sweat on stage?”

“. I hadn’t really thought of that. I’ll just have to explain it if it’s noticeable.” He shrugged and disappeared back to the hair and makeup station.

Sehun was still laughing after Chanyeol left, shaking his head at his hyung. “He knew we were wearing white today… why he had to wait until 2am to dye his hair is beyond me. The colour is going to bleed for the entire comeback special. Aish.”

“Wait you’re all wearing white today?” He nodded. “That idiot…”

“Right? Anyway, I’d better go get ready. Enjoy the broadcast!” Sehun called out as he made his way down the hall to the change room.

***

You figured a few vital things out during the comeback special. 1. Jongdae threw all semblance of image reservation out the window when there were prizes to be won. He’d throw anyone under the bus and you were dying of laughter at how badly he wanted to win. 2. Never cross Kyungsoo for he might be quiet but you could tell that he held leverage over everyone and was saving it for a special day. 3. Minseok had zero shame and zero care for anyone judging his relationships with the guys. He didn’t even bat an eyelid at the married couple jest, in fact he played it up while Jongdae got embarrassed.

The rest of the comeback special went well, bringing smiles and laughs to everyone. What you were really hanging out for was the performance because it was the one aspect of their work you could just enjoy. You didn’t need to correct anything or try to analyse the flow of words, body language or emotion like you did with the Q&A. Plus you really wanted to see them perform. You knew how hard they’d practiced and you could tell they were itching to share the fruits of their labour with the world.

Lucky One had you dancing in your seat backstage. It was next to impossible to not feel the funk coming through the instrumentals on that track and the choreo, the footwork involved was incredible. Heaven allowed you to sit back and listen to their voices as they sang and it pulled on your heart strings and left you smiling.

They left the stage to change into their final costumes and you felt for the poor stylists who’d have a hell of a time getting the fresh red dye out of Chanyeol’s white shirt. The crowd cheered and the energy in the Olympic Hall reached a fever pitch as everyone anticipated their performance of Monster. The music video teasers had come out a day or so ago and the concept for this era was darker and edgier and fans were going wild for it. You’d be lying to yourself if the day you saw them return to the dorm with new hairstyles and comments about piercings hadn’t piqued your interest.

The lights dimmed and you saw the silhouettes of all nine take their places on the stage. “.” you muttered under your breath when the lights came back up and the music started. The guys were in sync and if you weren’t working for them you’d feel attacked by them because this edgier concept suited them too well. Jongin’s blonde hair was disarming and a far cry from the soft brown he had when you first met him. Junmyeon’s silver tone was striking and stood out amongst the sea of black hair (aside from Chanyeol’s red and Minseok’s brown) that the rest of the group had. You could see why they were so popular, their personalities were fun and engaging and their stage presence was phenomenal - add in the talent with singing and dancing then it was a no brainer for them to have a following this large. The song ended, the lights dimmed and you had to block your ears from how loud the screams from the crowd were.  

***

“But noona I don’t see why we can’t do the lesson now? I have time to kill while we get ready for today’s program.” Jongin whined.

You stared down at him as he stretched on the floor and shook your head. “No Jongin, like I said, you have to be free from all distractions and I need at least a few hours notice so I can bring the planned lesson for you,”

“But -”

“And whilst you might have a few hours before you have to record, you’ll be getting pulled into wardrobe, hair & makeup, test shots, selfies, practice, and who knows what else. That won’t work for our lesson.” You rested your case for hopefully the last time today. Jongin kept asking for his lesson whenever you arrived with the group at one of the music shows and you were running out of ways to tell him no without giving anything away.

“Ok but seeing him actually try to complete one of your lessons here would be hilarious.” Sehun piped up from the back corner. You turned and glared at him.

“Not helping Sehun.” He only laughed harder before Yixing appeared to take him away. “Sehun, you know that wouldn’t work. Stop teasing teacher-nim.”

Before Jongin could protest much more the chaos of being at a show recording started. They were all rotated through hair and makeup then wardrobe, rewatching their latest performance to analyse and fix spots that weren’t perfect, warming up their voices and trying to keep their energy up and not give in to their nerves.

Right before they took the stage Jongin pulled you aside. “Ok tomorrow I have a photoshoot. Can we do the lesson then? He asked.

“We can do it before or after the photoshoot but not during.” You replied.

“Ok. Can we try for before but if that won’t work we move it to after? Please?” He pouted. Why do they all pout when they want to get their way. It’s incredibly unfair of them. He has no right to look cute in this stage getup, no right at all.

“I can work with that.” You nodded and smiled.

“I can’t wait!” He called out as he ran off towards the stage.

So much for sleep. Now you had to go over his lesson plan that night and adapt it to the location you’d be in. It would be worth it if his lesson went according to plan.

A/N - I’m not overly happy with this chapter but I needed to cover all of this so that I could move forward. I hope it’s still interesting and enjoyable, and I’m sorry if it’s a bit lacking. After this we’ll be up to Jongin’s lesson so please bare with me. As always comments are appreciated.