The dance practice room was still empty when Minho stepped inside.

The place was still the same as how he remembered it. The linoleum floor, the lights, some posters plastered on the wall…even the background with clouds all over it.

Ah no, not that identical. As Minho walked closer towards the posters, he realized that some of the posters, who used to display the faces of DBSK or Super Junior or SNSD or SHINee had now been replaced by SM’s newer groups and artists, whom Minho was mostly unfamiliar with. Minho smiled as he traced those posters with his fingers. Time really has flown by, he thought. Which was used to be our stage was now those kids’. But we will prove that we still have our charm. The reunion concert will be a success and I will make sure of i-

Suddenly Minho stopped dead in his train of thoughts, his fingers frozen at one poster. Between all those shining new pictures of NCT’s newest team, Taemin (as he was the only one who still stayed in SM after SHINee disbanded and remained as a solo artist and dance trainer), a new girl group called Phoenix (it seemed like SM really ran out of names), and some SM Rookies, there was an old one. That poster was so old that its colour had faded dangerously, the paper wrinkled and the sides ripped here and there. But it still showed five familiar faces, all decked in black and red. One had black hair with angled bangs, one with dark brown hair, one with lighter brown hair shaped like an onion, one with long shaggy chocolate hair…and one also had brown hair but with blonde and tan front bangs.

Minho stared long and hard at that poster, fingers shaking slightly. The reunion concert was supposed to be held for their 25^th anniversary. There were supposed to be five of them, singing and dancing together on stage to their old songs, probably joking about how they’re too old already for skinny jeans and so forth. And most importantly, he was supposed to be there, the very center of them, belting out high notes with all his might as expected of a main vocal.

But now it couldn’t possibly be happening anymore.

Because he had passed away, sixteen years ago.

He died just so suddenly, leaving them to pick up the pieces he left behind, only for them to disband not too long afterwards.

No, Minho didn’t blame him for what had happened. He had problems, and probably at that point it became too much to bear for him, and after the disbandment, the other SHINee members quickly moved on to their respective careers anyway. But Minho also knew, and he pretty much predicted the other members would think the same, had he been there, this reunion concert would be more complete, more authentic, since all of SHINee’s original members were there.

“Minho?”

Minho looked around and found a familiar figure standing by the door. The face was older than he’d remembered, but it still had the same pair of feline eyes and diva-like scowl on his bow-shaped lips. Minho recognized him instantly.

“Kibum,” Minho said, nodding as a form of greeting.

“You’ve been standing there in front of those posters for ages,” Kibum huffed, stepping inside. “What was so special about them anyw-“

His words were cut off as he noticed that particular object where Minho’s fingers rested at. For a few minutes the two same-aged friend only stared at each other with no words exchanged.

“How’s your newest movie?” Kibum asked as a way of dropping the tension and avoiding the yet-unmentioned subject at the same time.

“Fine,” Minho said, slightly surprised at that question. Granted, Kibum was not actually the kind of person who would ask something like that at first place, but now Minho couldn’t be more than glad that the feline man did so. “The shooting went well. I had to take some break to prepare for the concert, though, so the director kindly told me that they could shoot the scenes where there weren’t me first.”

“Good for you then,” Kibum said, eyes locked at the cloud-patterned wallpapers. “I myself did quite well in my work. My designs…”

“…are going to be presented in Seoul Fashion Week,” Minho said, laughing a bit. “I read that on the internet and oh, congratulations.”

“You ruined my news.”

“It’s not a news when the whole country has known about it.”

They decided to sit on the floor, and a few minutes passed in comfortable silence.

“Sitting here making me remember our days as idols,” Kibum said, eyes staring into space. “Remember those times we spent here, perfecting our dances?”

“Same here,” Minho replied. “And I remember that you’re the one who complained the most.”

“I complained the most??”

“Yeah. You would complain when it’s too hot, when it’s too cold, when the dance moves are too difficult for your taste, even when you don’t have a matching T-shirt for your leopard pants…”

“I did not!!!”

“Yes, you did, Kibum-ah.”

Kibum and Minho looked around at the door almost at the same time. Standing on it, with a big, amused smile that made his mismatched eyes almost disappear, was their leader, with their maknae trailing slightly shyly behind him.

“Jinki-hyung, you’re not supposed to take his side!” Kibum whined.

“I’m not taking sides,” Jinki laughed at Kibum’s less-than-amused face. “Just telling the truth.”

“Told you, Kibum,” Minho grinned and pulled both Jinki and Taemin into a big hug. “Anyway, how are you both? Did you two come together?”

“Yeah, Taemin asked me to, since he said he might feel awkward coming by himself, though I don’t really see why, considering he’s practically coming to his workplace,” Jinki smiled again. “And then I woke up late and…”

“Typically you, hyung,” Kibum rolled his eyes but quickly joined the others in the hug.

“It would be perfect if Jonghyun-hyung were here too,” Taemin piped up quietly for the first time.

Suddenly silence enveloped the room. All of them had avoided talking about it since they met, and though they knew they would reach that subject eventually, and that Taemin didn’t mean to start a fire or something, they still felt a little resentment towards their maknae as memories flooded back into their minds.

The news. The hospital. The memorial service. The funeral. The days they spent mourning. The first time they appeared in public as OT4, trying to hide the emptiness in their hearts. The times they had to re-practice their dances to suit four people instead of five. The single lone microphone they left for him when they did their Japan concert.

And now that they had disbanded, but agreed to do a reunion concert for their 25^th anniversary, the thought of having to relive their idol days with just the four of them suddenly felt so painful for them.

Jinki cleared his throat. “I know our condition right now is…less than perfect,” he began. “But think of this. It’s been years since we disbanded, yet we still have loyal fans, and they must’ve been dying to see us performing together once more, even it’s only for a one-time reunion concert. Despite of anything that happened, we have to move forward and make this concert a success, for the fans, for ourselves…and most importantly, for Jonghyun. I’m sure if he’s here right now he would want this concert to happen as well, and would want us to give our best to it. So I say, that’s what we are going to do.”

Trust Jinki-hyung to know what to say, Minho thought with a smile as he and his bandmates mulled over the leader’s words. Then Jinki reached out his hand, and as if commanded, the others placed their own hands on top of each other’s, one by one.

“We are going, Ultra SHINee Transformation!”

-

So, there goes the second chapter.

I contemplated between using "Ultra SHINee Transformation" or "SHINee's Back" for the last sentence but eventually going with "Ultra SHINee Transformation" since it's their official chant, and I think that chant is better to signify them returning as one group.

And oh, virtual hugs for you who can guess which era the SHINee poster I described earlier in this story from :D

Hope you enjoy this chapter, comments and constructive criticisms are appreciated and loved!