"I can't do this," Donghae says frustratedly. Then he gets frustrated with himself for saying that, and thrashes his limbs about for about five seconds with a confused, but slightly amused, Leeteuk watching him. 

"What can't you do? We were just tying our shoes, and we're going to meet Seunghwan in five minutes to grab some gimbap."

Donghae sighs. He was just thinking about Super Show 4, and performing onstage with Eunhyuk again. "I don't know. I mean, yeah, I do, but it's hard to describe." 

Leeteuk inwardly raises an eyebrow in the oh-rly way. 

"It's Super Show 4," Donghae says. "I just feel really nervous and excited about it, but I'm also kind of scared because what if I mess up? And then Eunhyuk is right there, and he thinks that I'm pretty useless right now, and a , and--"

Leeteuk interrupts, "Shut up, Donghae." Donghae obediently closes his mouth. "Okay," Leeteuk begins. "We all know you were pretty ty before." Donghae winced. "But I think you've changed, and you're different now. And about being useless--I know that your singing has gotten a lot worse, and your performances are lacking a certain energy, but the best way to fix that is through practice, not worrying." Leeteuk attempts to comfort Donghae by lightly patting the small of his back.

"You really are a good leader," Donghae says wonderingly. 

The door slams open. "I WANT SOME GIMBAP," Seunghwan says. 

***

Although sometimes Donghae tells himself not to, he can't help worrying about the future of Super Junior, the future of him and Eunhyuk--no, Hyukjae, Donghae reminds himself--, and the present of just everything. He swallows as he hears the murmurs coming from the stadium. He was currently getting prepared by SM's stylists for their performances. 

"Ready?" Kyuhyun asks Donghae. Donghae nods, feeling kind of awkward. He suspects that Kyuhyun doesn't really like him. Well, scratch that. He knows Kyuhyun doesn't really like him. 

"He was such a bastard to Hyukjae," Donghae had heard Kyuhyun say about him to Yesung. 

Speaking of Yesung, the turtle-loving man was just finished with his preparations, and he was now warming up his vocals. Donghae realized that something was missing, though.

"It's such a quiet place without Heechul," Ryeowook says for Donghae. Ryeowook admires his reflection in his vanity mirror, and promptly stops when his stylist orders him to turn his head up so she could apply some waterproof concealer to his neck.

Donghae blinks. "Wait. Ryeowook, is that a hickey?"

***

All of the Super Junior members feel cheated when they find out Ryeowook's secretly dating one of their back-up dancers, and have been for a while.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Sungmin whined after their concert.

"You guys...can't keep a secret." Ryeowook flushes.

The other members blink. "Why are you turning red?" Hyukjae asks.

Ryeowook huffs kind of angrily. "Well, I didn't do it, but...but..." All's clear when his eyes flicker between Donghae and Eunhyuk for a moment. "Sorry, but somehow word of Eunhyuk and Donghae got around SM, right? Jessica asked me if the rumors were true, and..." Ryeowook took a deep breath. "What's worse is that she said that she heard about it first from Taecyeon."

"What?!" Four of the members say, outraged. 

"How could she have heard about it from Taecyeon?" Hyukjae asks, incensed. "He's not even in SM."

"I know," Ryeowook says, nervously biting his lower lip. "I first thought that Taecyeon was taking a guess out of the blue, but then some other artists asked me about this. G-Dragon, Daesung, and Hongki." 

The other members are nervous at this new development. They all told somebody, but none told any artists from the competing agencies. Heechul talks to Hongki, some of them realize. But I don't think he'd tell GD or Daesung. 

Leeteuk speculates, "Well, Taecyeon knows Nichkhun, who's really social. And Nichkhun probably heard it from a direct source in SM if the news traveled to Taecyeon that fast." Leeteuk narrows his eyes at the rest of the members and tries to spot out the most uncomfortable ones. It's hard, though, as all of them seem uneasy with the situation. "I told only Soo-Man, and that was for professional purposes."

Donghae's clenching his teeth, but that's understandable. Hyukjae's tense, and Ryeowook looks half-worried and half-relieved that he's finally expressed this thought that had been nagging at him constantly.

"If the public knows about this--" Yesung begins.

"," Leeteuk says. "Even if the public doesn't hear about this and it's just known among entertainment agencies...that could harm us a lot. JYJ got banned from going on music shows...and I heard something about it being because entertainment managing agencies wanted to send a message that would discourage signed artists from following their footsteps."

Kyuhyun thinks of Changmin, and something he told him before. He grimaces. I probably should wait until I tell them about it, though. Until I get some more confirmation.

"Well, we're still getting invited on variety shows and CFs," Siwon says. "So, even if the big fish do know something, it's not hurting us yet."

Yet, all the members think. 

***

"Alright." Leeteuk tiredly rubs his temple. "How about we each say who we told and why? I told Soo-Man, our managers, and the publicity department's leaders."

"What the--the publicity department?!" Hyukjae says weakly.

Leeteuk defensively says, "They could take down websites or fancams before they're known to a mass audience."

"So...Soo-Man, managers, publicity department. That's at least fifteen people," Kyuhyun states. He scowls when Leeteuk glares at him. "I...told Changmin and my dad. I think he told my mom, but they're smart and don't seek attention, so they wouldn't have told anyone else."

"Same for me," Yesung says. "I just told my family. And Ddangkoma."

Everyone needs almost superhuman self-control just then to not roll their eyes. 

"I think Ddangkoma told everyone," Shindong says sarcastically. Since everyone's looking at him now, he decides he might as well go. "Nari. That's it."

"Just my family," Donghae follows hoarsely. 

"Same here--" Hyukjae stops as something hits him. "Wait. When you were filming Skip Beat--"  

Donghae blanches. No matter how many times the memory is brought up, it still pains him everytime to remember it and its aftereffects. "I...I..."

"The rumors started before he went to Skip Beat," Leeteuk says, not wanting Donghae to break down right then. Donghae told him about what happened with Eric and Sean, and though both found out Donghae was dating Hyukjae, Leeteuk doubted they could've told all these Korean idols. Donghae said they only knew fragments of Korean.

"...yeah," Donghae says softly. 

Something clicks with Siwon. "Wait. Did that cameraman find out?"

What cameraman? Five of them think. 

"Let's talk about that later," Leeteuk says quickly. He noticed how Hyukjae's jaw had clenched while self-loathing and guilt was flooding Donghae's eyes. "For now, let's focus on this. How the hell did YG find out?"

"YG? As in the artists, or the CEO, too?" Kyuhyun asks. The other members, except Leeteuk, wince just thinking about it. 

Leeteuk grimly smiles. "I asked our managers to check out some clubs I heard GD and some YG artists were seen at," Leeteuk says. Since we're forbidden to go clubbing. "And he..."

Gangnam, 3:00 a.m. KST

"I haven't seen you here before," GD says, smirking at Kim Jung Hoon, the fan-titled 'prince manager' of Super Junior. "You look really out of place here." 

Jung Hoon sheepishly laughs. "Yeah." He decides to stick as close to the truth as he could, since he at lying. "I just needed a break. I'm actually Super Junior's manager."   

Oh. The pretty boys, G-Dragon thinks scornfully. He withdraws his arm around from the svelte, lace-adorning woman leaning against his chest. She frowns. 

"Ji Yong!' She whines petulantly.

"Sorry, babe," G-Dragon says. "I just need to talk to this man alone for a moment, okay?" He smiles indulgently when she pouts. Jung Hoon thinks the woman looks like an absurd, demented duck with her lips out like that. "I'll make it up later to you tonight," he says. "I'll even treat you out to your favorite. Five-star, Italian, at six. Sounds familiar, Amy?"

Amy? Is that a stage name? Jung Hoon wonders, since he's certain the woman's Korean.

The woman smiles, appeased. "Yeah," she breathes. She glares at Jung Hoon, and the prince manager forces a smile at the face with double eyelids and other charming qualities that's frequently asked for in South Korea's many plastic surgery clinics. "Sorry...Miss," Jung Hoon says.

Amy(?) derisively laughs and flips her hair so that it hits Jung Hoon in the face. Ow, Jung Hoon thinks. "Alright, baby, I'll let you have your...men's talk." She lightly caresses GD's cheek and clavicle with her impeccably manicured nails as she leaves the booth to order another Vesper.  

***

"You hold your alcohol very well," GD observes. "I thought you'd have been spilling all the dirty on your pretty boys by now."

Jung Hoon smiles humorlessly. "You make a very good drinking buddy yourself." He had accepted all the drinks GD ordered for him, fully knowing that GD's intentions probably didn't stem from good-will or generosity. In order to make sure he didn't pass his alcohol tolerance, however high it may be, Jung Hoon insisted that GD had a glass of each drink as well. They managed to cover every variety of this club's Sazeracs, Zombies, and Manhattans. 

"Well, now that we confirmed each other's true intentions..." GD begins, languidly twisting a skewered olive with his tongue. It had an imprint of what looked like the longwear, crimson lipstick that Jung Hoon noticed was on Amy's surgically enhanced lips. "How about we spice this up a bit?"

Jung Hoon tries his best to not show his discomfort. He heard rumors of GD experimenting with men before, and though he doubts that's GD's intentions, an unasked-for image of GD's lipstick-ed tongue in his own mouth was still very unpleasant and disarming. "What do you have in mind?"

GD manages to see the lipstick in the reflection of his martini glass and curses. "Crazy ," he says slightly affectionately. He drinks the rest of his Bronx in one go. "I just heard some rumors of your...flower boys...and wanted to know if some of them were true."

Jung Hoon affably smiles. "I can help you validate them." I can help confuse the out of you.

GD laughs, and lightly takes out from his small mouth the toothpick that formerly held the olive garnish. "I'd like that. But I'm thinking you won't do it without something in return."

Jung Hoon smirks. Got you.  

A/N: You've Got to Hide Your Love Away is a reference to a Beatles song with the same name, heh.