“To Jay.”

This was 2PM’s toast to the new year as they clinked their glasses together before taking a sip of the sparkling champagne. The six of them had grouped together a little after JYP’s end-of-year parting words to remember the fallen leader. They still believed in his return, just as Jinyoung-hyung had told them, and they were going to wait patiently as needed. Regardless if it was with 2PM or not, they believed Jay would come back- they wanted him back. The past wounds were slowly starting to heal and they were busy picking up the pieces, the shards of broken reality that had stung and cut through their flesh at Jay’s departure and the attacks charged against them. Slowly, and surely, they were healing, and now, more than ever, they were ready to face the new year with a bang. It was Time for 2PM after all.

Gold ts hung all over the hotel function room coupled with LED lights that blinked on and off to an unnamed beat. Christmas decor still hung around everywhere, and colorful splashes of banners with 2PM, 2AM, and the Wonder Girls were strung across the room. It was the JYP End Of Year special, right after the last Gayo Daejun performance. Their families were invited and all here as well for the celebration of a new hope to come. New challenges would arise, each harder than the last, and it was family that held them all together. This was their family now.

Or at least, that was how it played out in Nichkhun’s mind. He turned towards Renn who was sitting beside him, deep in discussion with JYP about her demo-tape, he was sure. The younger producer was strikingly lucid for this time of the year, a sharp contrast to her usual dreamy and pensive self. Renn was speaking animatedly with JYP, and Khun could only wonder if it was the inebriation talking for her. Changmin sat next to him, talking about his military training days with another, much older, senior staff member. Nichkhun couldn’t help but feel slightly left out, until a hand on his arm drew him back to the table.

“Are you okay?” Renn asked.

Renn was a something of an unknown element to him. While he knew her better than most- he was infinitely more comfortable in her company for sure, he still couldn’t tell how she was feeling or what she was thinking. He had taken it as his responsibility to make sure she was alive at least during her moments of hibernation, but he had easily relinquished that task to Jay the moment he realized what had been going on between them. Now, however, he was uncertain again. “Yeah, I’m okay,” he answered hesitantly.

“Congratulations again.” She smiled. “But I still don’t get tonight’s performance,” she commented with a frown.

Nichkhun mirrored her expression, was she talking about the special stage with SNSD?

Renn shook her head, her face falling into something Nichkhun was more acquainted with- her eyes were glazed and unfocused again as her conscious mind drifted back into her memories. “No chemistry.”

He couldn’t help but chuckle, this was the Renn he knew, and he shifted in his seat to face her. “We had to. Fan service. Be nice.”

Renn shook her head furiously. “No, I don’t have to be nice, I don’t see SNSD here. Even if they were.”

Laughing, Nichkhun scooted closer to speak in a more hushed tone, “None of us liked it as much either. I’d rather have stayed in the Bo Peep costume, even the Mr. costume.”

“Changmin-oppa’s So Hot outfit was better,” Renn replied flatly.

“What about me?” Changmin gave a start when he heard his name and he pushed Nichkhun aside to ask Renn, but the girl only smiled and eventually gave in to laughing. “What?” Changmin repeated.

“Nothing,” Nichkhun and Renn replied at the same time, resulting in another giddy fit of laughter. Changmin mock glared at his dongsaengs, but he let the matter slide by as Seulong, Kwon, and Taecyeon flew by with a video camera.

“Yah, film me!” Kwon demanded, reaching out and pulling at Taecyeon’s jacket. The taller guy only stuck his tongue out as he continued to film himself around the hall.

“So it’s new year’s tonight, it’s 2010!” Taecyeon beamed, pulling a cute face as he walked across the room. He zoomed the camera in on Nichkhun and Renn who both waved and pointed at Changmin as they laughed again. “What did you two do to army-hyung?” he asked.

“Nothing.”

When both Renn and Nichkhun replied at the same time again, Taecyeon knew better than to ask lest he be involved in whatever those two were scheming. He had always had this inkling that those two, with their deceptively innocent faces, were always up to no good. Selectively evil, as Jay would say.

He wandered off to the other side of the room with Seulong following after him. Kwon had managed to latch himself with Sunye, Fei, and Junsu, with Changmin over there as well. Looks like the One Day eldest had decided to run free from Renn and Khun’s grasp. He however was not afraid of them, not really, so finding nothing else to do, Taecyeon walked back towards the pair and plopped down on the seat next to Renn.

“What did you do to Changmin-hyung?” Taecyeon asked, genuinely curious.

“Nothing.” Thankfully only one answered, and Taecyeon raised both brows at Renn. “It’s true,” she continued, “How was I supposed to know he still had past traumas about the So Hot performance they had.”

“That was pretty traumatising, even to watch,” Taecyeon replied and Nichkhun nodded in agreement. “Wait, how did you manage to even bring that up? That performance was six months ago.”

“Uh...” Renn shot Nichkhun a confused glance. “I don’t remember.”

“Renn was saying that tonight’s performance with SNSD had no chemistry-”

"But Khun and I have great chemistry!" Taecyeon cut in, only to be ignored.

“..So I told her, I’d have enjoyed walking around in the Bo Peep costume, and Changmin-hyung was sitting right next to us, and...”

Taecyeon shook his head as Nichkhun’s voice trailed off...yeah...I don’t get it either. Completely at a loss for words, Taecyeon grabbed three drinks from a passing waiter and handed the two concoctions to his companions. “Yeah, let’s just drink to that.”

Before Renn could reach out for the pink drink, however, Nichkhun pushed it away. “No, Renn. I don’t want another episode like before.” He then turned towards Taecyeon. “Do you want another episode like the last time?”

Taecyeon shook his head vigorously and pushed the drink further from Renn’s reach. “Yeah...J- He’s gonna kill us both if that happens again.”

Sighing in defeat, Renn rolled her eyes and looked away, her gaze landing instantly on the balcony outside. “I want to see him,” she whispered softly.

Junho walked around the venue looking for a table to settle himself in. Chansung was with Seulong and Jinwoon fooling around, but all he wanted to do at the moment was take a short break. He, just like the other members, had been working with nearly no time for sleep this past week, but he, unlike the other members, valued his rest and relaxation over a party. Before a party, at least.

He spotted Kass and Mai on one of the tables, and he approached them, stopping a few steps away as something caught his eye.

“Umma, do you have a pen? Coordi-unnie wanted me to remember something and list it down later but I’m afraid I’ll forget,” Kass said, bouncing on her toes.

With a sigh, the older girl pulled out her bag and started rummaging through it, pulling out a few items first before finally retrieving the pen. It was, however, not the pen that had caught Junho’s eyes but the bejeweled strap accessory still kept in its case that Mai was currently holding and dropping back into her bag. Already, an idea was forming in his head.

Finding herself cornered at one end of the balcony, Kass took a deep breath and mentally prepared herself for what she was about to be told from Chansung and Junho. She was especially scared of what Junho wanted to talk to her about, and she knew that look in his eyes all too well.

“Do you still remember the plan Kass?” The girl nodded slowly, keeping her gaze on the floor.

“But do I really have to? Can’t Chansungie do it instead?” Junho simply shook his head. “Why m-”

“You owe me Kass. This was your fault remember,” Junho cut her off. Kass sighed inwardly remembering the Christmas Incident that had gotten her in this situation in the first place. It truly wasn’t her fault that the present wasn’t labelled, she just assumed it was for Mai since she was the only one without a gift.

“And I said I was sorry. What’s so important about that keychain anyway? Can’t umma just keep it?”

“No.” Junho was quick to reply, causing Kass to jump back a bit and gain a look from Chansung. “I... mean... no, because that was the wrong present.”

“Wrong present?” Kass questioned, not believing what Junho was telling her. She didn’t see why the keychain was so important to Junho that he had to get it back, and he wanted her to get it back for him.

“Just... get it back it okay?!” Junho didn’t know how much more to stress his point.

“Alright.” Kass knew better than to question the male anymore, she had to redeem herself and that wouldn’t work if she went back on her word. She gave the boys one last nod before searching the balcony for the target.

Kass spotted Mai and Fuu leaning on the ledge of the balcony, overlooking the city, and made her way towards them. Kass, Junho and Chansung had gone over the plan a number of times to make sure it would go smoothly and not end up like their previous scheme. The plan was to distract Mai and retrieve the keychain residing in her bag. The challenge was to distract Mai long enough so she wouldn’t realize her keychain had been swiped during the process.

“Those girls were seriously lacking, I mean the three boys definitely took the stage last night,” Mai said as she looked across at the buildings in the distance.

“Ugh, why did he have to dance so close with her? As if the yesterday wasn’t enough, and not just him. The other even had to carry one of them.” Fuu sighed, taking a sip of champagne.

Kass overheard her unnies’ conversation as she approached the two and couldn’t help but agree. It wasn’t as if she was anti-SNSD, she just disliked them. She also noticed that Fuu and Mai, although they seemed to be in a conversation based around the same thing, weren’t exactly replying to each other’s comments.

“Couldn’t they have performed with another group? Like 2AM, they are One Day for a reason.”

“Stupid fan service. The fans were only screaming because of how close the guys were dancing with SNSD, it’s not as if they supported it or anything, I surely don’t.”

Mai hummed in agreement.

“I second that.” The older girls turned around to see Kass place herself next to Mai on the ledge. “I don’t get why it had to be them, what about the Wonder Girls or even After School.”

“Kass?” Mai and Fuu turned to say at the same time.

“I thought you were hanging with Junho and Chansung?” Mai asked.

“I was,” Kass replied. “But they went back inside... Wooyoungie-oppa was calling for them,” she lied.

As Mai and Fuu continued their conversation, Kass snuck a glance at Mai’s bag on the table behind them. The bag strap was in plain sight, still inside its plastic container lying innocently in her open bag. Kass inwardly pumped her fist and jumped in glee, this was going to be easier than she had previously thought. As she approached her target, a loud voice made her jump and she whirled around in surprise.

“Hey guys! Are there any more fireworks? Oh! It’s starting!” Jinwoon turned around and leaned on the doorframe to the roof. “GUYS! THE FIREWORKS ARE STARTING!” he hollered downstairs.

“Jinwoon-ah, you could have gone down to tell them without having to yell from here,” Mai told him as she turned around and spotting Kass. Mai gave her a questioning look, as the younger girl had frozen on the spot when Jinwoon had suddenly appeared. Kass forced a smile and moved to the ledge, and Jinwoon turned to give Mai a charming eye-smile before turning towards the stairs to wait for the rest of the group.

The sound of heavy running footsteps echoed from the stairwell as a smile spread across the One Day maknae’s face, and he backed up to avoid getting crushed from the collision. Taecyeon, Seulong, and Chansung rushed into the deck in a noisy stampede followed by Kwon, Wooyoung, and Junsu. The boys squeezed themselves onto the balcony railing with Taecyeon still filming with his camera as they watched the beginning of the show. Changmin and Junho followed shortly, with Renn and Nichkhun bringing up the rear.

“Wah! It’s so pretty!” Jinwoon gushed as he elbowed some of his hyungs away to get a better view.

“Yah, move over Jinwoonie,” Kwon said, pushing the much taller maknae away from his view.

“Stop pushing, Kwon-ah,” Seulong pushed Kwon aside as he made a space for himself on the ledge.

“No wonder you’re all squished up here, you’ve got the best view.” Changmin squeezed his way between his younger members, creating more noise from the three.

Fuu stepped away from the mass chaos that was happening around her, afraid that if she remained where she was she’d get crushed by the legion of boys that had invaded her and Mai’s place of quiet. She backed up a few more steps only to bump into someone else, and she quickly turned around and bowed to apologize only to be stopped midway by a hand on her shoulder.

She looked up and saw Taecyeon smiling down at her. “It’s okay, you don’t have to apologize,” he said, smiling.

Fuu thanked the dim lights as the blood rushed up to her face, she stuttered an acknowledgment to his statement, distracted by the way the light from the fireworks fell across the angles on Taecyeon’s face.

Fuu gulped in a breath as Taecyeon laid his other hand on her shoulder and gently spun her around to view the fireworks. “Happy New Year.”

Kass slapped her hands on to prevent herself from screaming in delight as she saw Taecyeon and Fuu watching the night sky together. It was very romantic, and she was hopping from one foot to the other trying not to make an unnecessary noise that might disturb the two.

“Kass, what are you so excited about?” Wooyoung asked, stepping into the younger girl’s view.

“Ah, nothing, the fireworks are pretty!” Kass beamed, tilting her head to the side.

Wooyoung nodded and agreed. “Yeah, they are, aren’t they.”

Mai smirked, but more in amusement as she watched the thirteen heads crowd the small balcony space to watch the fireworks. Looking up, she had to admit that the multicolored splashes of light in the sky were indeed beautiful- the festivities were slowly getting to her, and she wasn’t even inebriated yet.

“So sparkly isn’t it noona?” Chansung asked, as he stumbled away from the others.

“Sparkly?” Mai asked, confused.

“The fireworks.”

“Chansung, sparkly is not a way to describe fireworks,” Junho broke in, joining the conversation.

“It’s not?”

Mai just shook her head at the maknae and turned her attention back to the fireworks display, a ghost of a smile playing on her lips.

Junsu slipped under Seulong and Jinwoon and headed towards where Renn and Nichkhun were standing. They had been together for the whole night, and Junsu found it curious. He slid in next to Renn, and listened in on the conversation they were having.

“So after Heartbeat it’s Getting Tired of Waiting, then hopefully Gimme the Light,” Renn said, her eyes focused on the shower of fireworks from above.

“Gimme the Light? Well, as long as it’s not All Night Long I guess,” Nichkhun replied, giving a nod as he noted Junsu’s presence.

“Stage performances?” Junsu asked, referring to the current conversation he stepped into.

Renn hummed a reply and nodded. “Gimme the Light,” she muttered. “That’s what you should sing.”

The night sky broke into a final splash of color as blues, reds, greens, and violets filled the sky in celebration for the next year that was to come. As the light splayed on their faces, a new hope was forming deep within their collective hearts. With the start of a new year came new hope, as well as new adventures, new questions that may or may not remain unanswered.