[A/N INSOMNIA IS A . "That 70's Show" is going on and Fez's accent is keeping me awake. So, why not spend my time writing the second chapter of this story?!? My ideas are still a little fuzzy, but I will try my best to send my thoughts to my fingers and type, Type, TYPE!!! Without further rambling, Enjoy, my lovelies~!!!]

Kai's POV

Friends sure are convenient.

Need some money? Call a friend, Need a ride to school? Call a friend, Need some help on homework? Call a friend. Do you get where this is going? They are like slaves really, the only thing you have to do is match your likes and dislikes, make a few inside jokes, and maybe go over to each other houses once in a while.

See? It's quite simple.

I'm not saying I don't appreciate my friends, I'm just saying that not all of them would be very missed by me if they suddenly died, or if they just stopped calling me. Most are only friends with me because I got good looks, my family has money painted all over it, and because a few moronic bastards have had the luck to have seen me dance.

As I have mentioned before, my family basically uses bills as toilet paper. So my Umma decided to play Perfect Family, with the overachieving son to boot.

Not that I ever had a choice, anyway.

She signed me up to take "Prestigiously Advanced" dancing classes in the Seoul Institute of the Arts of since I was five, taking Ballet and Tap Dancing. I was a bit too small to understand at the time, but she was basically taking advantage of me. I remember that, whenever we had an important "guest to entertain" over for dinner, she would allow me to retreat to room, only to make the nanny dress me up in a ridiculous outfit so I could dance for them like a trained monkey. I remember feeling happy whenever I danced for guests. I would get excited as I got dressed by my old nanny, who would always look at me with pity in her eyes. I would give my all just so, when I was done dancing, I would see our guest(s) clapping bewilderedly, and my Umma and Appa¹ smiling at me with pride shining in their eyes.

What I didn't see was the emotion behind that, barely hidden from the surface. Convenience.

I finally noticed that when I was 12, as moronic as I was. I never really got sick when I was little, at least not the bed-ridden type, but I was bound to get sick someday. I was delirious with the Chicken Pox, it had given me a high fever and everything looked blurry and faded. It was summer, so I had no school that day, but all I did was sleep and tangle the sheets around my legs in uncomfortable frustration. I finally woke up around 6 PM, feeling a little better now that my surroundings weren't swimming anymore. I was by myself in my big room, I had a king-sized bed all to myself, and the covers were soft and a bit too warm due to my fever. The setting sun casted a long shadow in my otherwise dark room and I felt my stomach grumble.

I wonder if there's any food downstairs...?

I got out of bed, a slight dizzy spell overtaking me, and made my way too my much-too-big closet. I was only wearing a white t-shirt and boxers, and even though it was summer, the big house ate up all the warmth, leaving me to think that my toes would soon have frostbite. I got dressed in a pair of mismatched socks, my favorite old workout pants, and an over-sized shirt that hung almost to my knees. I opened the door to my room and cleared my throat, I could barely make out a few voices at the bottom of the main staircase, sounding almost familiar. "Umma...? Appa...?" I tried calling to them, but all that came out was a glorified croak. I walked to the staircase, and the voices got louder. ".....he's sick?!?" My Appa spat out, "I said, the kid caught the Chicken Pox from one of the kids in his Tap class, I couldn't help it!" my Umma shrieks back, "Couldn't help it? YOU COULDN'T HELP IT?!?! Do you know how important this deal is to me? To the company?!? You better be God Damned sure that kid is on Hell's doorstep, if not, I expect you to have him ready to do his little dancing business to the company head, or you can just say goodbye to your monthly shoe allowance, you imbecile!!!!" My Appa bellowed, making me flinch and retreat to the darkness of my room. I got the sheets on my bed arranged appropriately around myself when my Umma opens the door to my room. "Sweetie, are you feeling better? Do you think you can do your Big Show tonight?" she says, walking rapidly to the side of my bed and looking down on me with calculating eyes, "I.... don't think so, Umma.... I can't move" I say, making my voice sound sick and thick so that she bites the bait. She purses her lips in distaste and looks at me with narrowed eyes, "If you feel better, I'm sure Appa, Umma and our guest would love to see you dance. Don't you think it would be nice?" She asks, a slight pleading note in her voice, "...Neh², Umma... I'll tell you if I feel better" I say, just wanting her to leave so I can be alone. "...Very well, then." she says, as she walks to the door quickly, opens it, and slams it shut. I look at the door for a while, my thoughts a jumbled mess, until the fever and my frustrated tears lull me back into sleep.

Total sob story, right?

It's not that bad. I mean, because of that incident, I was able to grow up from the shy little kid to who I am now. A few weeks after "The Incident", (Umma always refers to it this way) I decided to stop taking Tap dances and to enroll in Hip-Hop dance classes. I love Ballet, but Tap is just annoying. Also, I had heard from the TV that Hip-Hop was in this days and I wanted to see what all the hype was about. So, I told Umma, and she freaked out. She grounded me to my room for a week without any "Play Time", (Her definition of 'Play Time' is reading an old book for an hour a day so I can do a report about it, whatever) but I didn't care a bit. I stood by my decision and she eventually had to give in because I had refused to eat anything for 2 days until she fulfilled my conditions. She couldn't let a kid die for God's sake, what would the Press say?

Anyhow, quitting Tap and joining a Hip-Hop class was one of the best decisions of my life.

I made Umma enroll me in a normal class. That is, I didn't want a "Rich Kid" class, I wanted to meet normal kids my age. The first day of classes, I somewhat regretted my decision. The place was old, the room we practiced in was small, and they made 13 kids practice there at the same time. The teacher came up to me and shook my hand, almost falling over himself to say how thankful he was for the donation my Parent's company gave and how generous it was. I smiled politely, a habit I have not been able to ever loose, and let him lead me to the front of the class where he introduced me to the other kids. Most of them were really sweaty and red, as if they had been a turkey that was in the oven a bit too long. They looked up at me and just stared, boredom settled in their features. I stared back, deciding which kids were worth my time and which kids were disposable. Sadly, most kids looked like delirious half-brains, but I did find a diamond in the rough.

Jonghyun.

He was sitting on the floor, his legs splayed out in front of him with his arms supporting him as he leaned back, and he was also looking at me with the same expression. The calculating, guarded expression of someone that had gone through a rough patch in life. When our eyes met, he nodded slightly to me, in acknowledgement, and I nodded back.

 I guess you could say he's my only real friend?

 He's a year and a few months older than me, but I never called him hyung. He knows why I started the Hip-Hop dance class in the first place, I didn't spare any details, and I, in turn, now all about how he would sneak out in the middle of the night to participate in contraband dancing competitions.

That's a story for another time, though.

We mostly went to his house whenever we played, he had said that he felt uncomfortable whenever the maids greeted us and watched us play. I didn't blame him. Besides, his house was rowdy and fun. His Umma would make this amazing little cakes that she would make us eat, always clucking about how skinny I always looked. I had lots of fun, really, and he was always a Dream-Chaser, which provided for lots of mischievous adventures.

Like when he got accepted under the SM Academy's "Idol Trainee" program.

He was in a band when he was 15 and I was 14, and the bastard had the luck to have the little dingy cafe where they always had their "gigs" be a regular meeting place for some SME managers. One manager gave him his card after seeing him perform, I got to admit, he has some lungs, and he thought "Why not?" and called the next day. They set up a formal audition for him and he got in with flying colors.

It was easier for me to get elected though.

Our dance school would have a competition that would take place yearly, that year it happened about 3 months after Jonghyun got in, and I decided to show everyone who really could dance, (I won second place, a little girl did some aegyo³ dance that melted the judge's hearts. Please, like we haven't seen that before) what I didn't know was that a higher-up in SME was there to scope for talent, and he found me. He gave his business card, I called, we sealed the deal, yadda, yadda, yadda. What was the most memorable about the whole thing was the fact that I never told Jonghyun I got in, I never really told him I was in the competition in the first place, and the look on his face as he saw me walk into his dance class for new trainees what absolutely worth it.

But, that's not the point.

The point is the debuted before me.

He was 18 and I was 17. I thought I was worthless, that I was easily replaceable. I didn't talk to Jonghyun for a few weeks because of it. Then, when I decided to stop acting like a idiot, I finally grew a pair and things went back to normal. Except I now practiced twice as hard as I did before, and that certainly paid off.

Now, in a few months, I'm going to debut with SME's new boy group, EXO. I'll be in EXO-K the South Korean half of the group.

It's been two years, but so what?

I'm 19 now, and Jonghyun is 20. He said we should go work out together, and I agreed because I haven't seen him in at least a month.

I wonder if he still resembles a dinosaur?

¹: Father in Korean

²: Yes in Korean

³: In South Korea, this word is used to described cute actions, mostly done by females;Sometimes, male use it too.

[A/N Taiyou: Sorry, guys. I was going to upload this last night, but I fell asleep. Oh well~!!! How do you guys like my description of Kai? A bit too angsty? Also, I'm not sure which POV I chould do next, but I'm kind of leaning into a Sehun POV. Anyways, I will be changing the ages of the characters quite a bit, and A WARNING TO ALL: SHINee has debuted 2 years ago, f(x) has debuted a year ago, and EXO will be debuting in a few months. I had to change it around so that it fits the story accordingly, but it's not really a big change to worry about. Anywho, COMMENTS PLEASE~!!! ]

P.S.- Update later or tomorrow?