There was a sharp rap on the door, and JB’s head jerked up, his eyes half awake and sleepy. He groaned, “Coming!”, slowly getting to his feet. He winced as his aching joints cracked, and barely managed to make it to the door without falling. Like an old man, he opened it, blinking his eyes blurrily.

Jang Wooyoung stared at JB in shock, “Woah. JB, you look exhausted!”

JB groaned, putting his head against the doorframe, “Tell me about it…we’ve barely gotten five hours of sleep this past week.”

Wooyoung looked at him sympathetically as he entered the house, “Yeah, I remember how that feels. Must be tough on you, you’ve got your drama and you’re rushing for the Invincible debut too…”

JB sighed, “Can’t be helped. Our debut’s tomorrow, after all. How’s Jr, by the way? I haven’t seen him lately, I’ve been too busy.”

“Jr’s fine. He’s just missing you, he says there’s no one to cook for him when you’re not around.” Wooyoung laughed. JB rolled his eyes, “That guy…” The younger man sat down on his mattress on the floor, and Wooyoung shot him a look, “Why are you sleeping on the floor in the living room? Don’t you have a room?”

“He’s been sleeping out here ever since we moved in.” Junho appeared from his room, “I heard your voice, Woo. Finally someone came to visit.”

Wooyoung protested, “It’s not our fault we haven’t been coming! Jr and the other 2PM guys wanted to come on Tuesday, but Jinyoung-hyung told us not to distract you from your practice!”

Junho grumbled as he sat down next to , “Seriously? We’re working our butts off here and he doesn’t even allow us visitors? Geez…”

Wooyoung took something out from his bag, “Here, brought this for you guys.”

JB took it, “Wow! Dried mangoes! Thanks, hyung, it’s been ages since I’ve eaten this.”

Junho whistled, “Nice.” As JB got up to get a pair of scissors from the kitchen to open the packet of dried mangoes, Wooyoung nudged Junho and whispered, “Hey, why doesn’t JB want to sleep in his room? I thought he loves beds.”

Junho shrugged, “I don’t know, I asked him and he wouldn’t tell me. Totally can’t understand – I’d jump for joy if I could room with Jiyeon, except then she’ll think I’m a ert or something.”

Wooyoung’s head shot up, “He’s rooming with Jiyeon? Park Jiyeon? T-ara’s Park Jiyeon?”

Junho gave Wooyoung a look, “Yeah, sure he is. Why? What’s wrong with that?”

Wooyoung hesitated, glancing at where JB had disappeared. Then he shook his head, “Nothing.”

JB returned with the dried mangoes, tossing them to Junho, “Should we offer the others some?”

“They’re still sleeping, aren’t they?” Junho replied with a cheeky grin, “So we get to finish the lot. The early bird catches the worm, after all!”

JB rolled his eyes, “That’s mean.”

Junho grumbled, “Fine, fine, I’ll go wake Jonghyun up.” He pushed himself off the sofa, heading for his room.

Wooyoung waited till he was out of earshot before turning to JB, murmuring, “I heard that you’re rooming with Jiyeon-sshi.”

JB’s smile faded.

“That’s why you’re sleeping out here, huh? Must be awkward, after everything that happened between you two.” Wooyoung mused. JB looked away, “I don’t want to talk about it, hyung.”

Wooyoung’s eyes were sharp as he glanced at JB, “You’re going to be in the same group as her, JB. For god knows how long. Are the two of you just going to tiptoe around each other all the time? Talk to her, JB. She must have suffered, you know. After what happened. Talk to her.”

“You know I can’t. If this gets out, our careers will be ruined.” JB’s voice was low. Wooyoung gave a chuckle, “Considering how many people ship JJCouple out there, I think they’d jump for joy instead.”

“Will they? If they knew the full truth, will they be so happy? If they found out that because of me, she had to go through-” JB’s voice broke off abruptly and he looked away.

Jonghyun and Junho came charging out of the room, racing for the dried mangoes, and no more was said about it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jessica studied her reflection in the mirror carefully, making sure her stylist had not made any mistakes. Her blonde locks flowed smoothly down her back, making her look like a goddess. Jonghyun glanced over at her and rolled his eyes, “Yo, Leader, relax. It’s not like this is your first time on stage or anything.”

Jessica glared at him, her voice prim as she retorted, “As a leader, I should be more dignified and presentable. Besides, we’re supposed to be the best of Kpop, so of course we have to look better.”

Jonghyun grinned better, “Too bad for you, I’m already one of the better-looking ones in Kpop, even without the makeup and all.” He whistled, running a hand through his spiky black hair.

Krystal was quieter than her sister, murmuring the lyrics to herself to make sure she would not forget them. Her eyes were closed, and she looked like she was praying. Junho was busy practicing his dance steps in the corner, humming the tune to himself as he did.

Jiyeon sat in her seat, almost hyperventilating. Her fingers gripped the seat tightly, her eyes closed as she tried to calm herself down. All of a sudden, she felt a pressure on her shoulder. Opening her eyes, she was startled to see JB behind her. He gave his usual sweet smile, patting her shoulder gently, “Relax. You’ll be absolutely fine.”

Jiyeon stared at him, stunned. He hesitated, biting his lip. Then he turned and returned to his own seat.

There was a knock on the door, and one of the staff walked in, “It’s Invincible’s turn, come on!”

Jonghyun whooped, leaping out of his seat, “It’s showtime, guys! Let’s rock it!”

Jiyeon took a deep breath to calm herself as she followed Krystal to the stage. The six of them paused, and Jessica addressed them as a group, “Remember guys, we’re the best Kpop has to offer. So let’s show them what we can do!”

“Fighting!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kim Myungsoo waited silently by the side, his eyes fixed on the crowd. Moments later, Invincible emerged on the stage. They took their places; Jessica and Junho wore determined expressions, Jonghyun looked confident, while the three maknaes were visibly nervous. After a moment, Jiyeon reached forward and murmured something to JB; he grinned, nodded and passed it to the others, who smiled and looked cheered.

Then they started.

Jay Park whistled, “They’re not too bad, are they?”

Jaejoong glanced dismissively up at them, then looked down again with a snort.

IU was biting her lip, “JB and Junho are really good. No, they’re all good.”

Gyuri shot the maknae a look, “Please. They’re nothing compared to us.” She sneered at the wildly cheering audience, “When we go up, the cheers will be a billion times greater than this.”

IU gulped, taking a step back. The malicious aura of hatred that emanated from the other Obsidian members was so strong she could nearly see it. She bit back a sigh. All she wanted to do was see who was more talented, Jiyeon or her. She hadn’t gotten into this group with the intention of bringing Invincible down…

As the music ended, Jonghyun pumped his fist into the air; the audience cheered and screamed. JB gave a wave and his signature cute eye smile, and the audience screamed, wilder than ever, straining to reach the idols. Jiyeon and Krystal waved with a cheery smile; as the audience nearly started climbing up the stage, the staff quickly hurried the idols backstage. Jaejoong’s eyes were hostile, “Looks like they’re quite popular. What do you guys think?”

“Not too bad. But, of course, they have to be at least at a certain standard to be our rivals.” Myungsoo smirked. Jaejoong gave a cold smile, “That’s true.” He lifted the phone which he had been playing with, “Did you guys see this piece of T-ara news, by the way?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Invincible entered their room, Jonghyun shouted, “Nice job, guys, we totally owned the stage!”

Jessica shot Jonghyun a look and pushed him aside, “I’m the leader, you , stop stealing my job.” She smiled as she addressed the group, “We did good today, let’s keep improving and show everyone who’s the best!”

The six of them went in for a group hug; Junho ruffled JB’s hair playfully, while Jonghyun gave Krystal a high-five, and Jessica patted Jiyeon on the back, “You did good, kiddo.”

There was a sharp rap on the door, and they turned to see Obsidian standing at the doorway. Jaejoong leaned against the doorframe, a smirk on his face. Jessica stiffened at the sight of him, “Kim Jaejoong. What the hell do you want?”

Jaejoong tutted, “Touchy, touchy, Ice Princess. Still as rude as ever, I see.” He strolled towards Jessica, and leaned forward, “I see you aren’t doing too badly.”

Jonghyun stepped forward, pulling Jaejoong away, “Leave Jessica alone, you .”

Jaejoong shot him a cold glare, “You’re not even fit to talk to me.” He stepped back, “I came to tell you something quite important.”

“What? About Obsidian? We already know.” Jonghyun replied coolly. Jaejoong smiled, a malicious smile, “Not quite.” He lifted his phone, “Haven’t you heard? There’s a scandal. About T-ara. Hwayoung has been kicked out of the group. And the other members have been accused of bullying her.”

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Hey guys! It's been quite a while since I last updated, so I'm really sorry about it. Anyway, this is the next chapter of Battle of the Idols, and we get our first Invincible/Obsidian faceoff!

The first part of the chapter is JJCouple; no one has really come close to the truth of the awkwardness between JB and Jiyeon, but at least Wooyoung knows it, and it's going to be slowly revealed...is anyone else excited? The second part had Jaejoong/Jessica/Jonghyun. Yeah, Jessica and Jaejoong have a past (I use to kinda ship Jaesica, so yeah...) anyone shipping Jaesica here? 

I also included the T-ara scandal; essentially this is like, the beginning of the scandal, and it's just my version of the scandal, so it's not true (I don't know what is the real truth either, though i wish i knew). Now that Invincible's first scandal has broken, right when they are debuting, will they be able to weather this difficulty? Will Jiyeon get the support she needs from the others or will they turn against her and blame her? Find out in the next chapter!

And guys, remember, comment and subscribe!

On a sidenote, please check out my newest story, Oneshot Collection: Love in Korean Pop; as the name suggests, it's a collection of oneshots. I focus mainly on JJCouple, Myungyeon, Myungzy, exoshidae, Shinee/SNSD and 9PM. You can also request other couples, so please check it out and subscribe to it! I've already posted a JJCouple, Myungyeon and Sestal story; a Woohyun/Hyomin one is coming up latest by tomorrow. Thanks!