Hajung-dong, Seoul. 5:00 a.m. KST. 

Jung Hoon is kind of nervous that GD asked him to continue their conversation in his house. Although Jung Hoon knows GD doesn't have the slighest ual interest in him, and he's immensely relieved he doesn't, he's still slightly frightened of GD. A massive scandal of him being tested positive for happened in October, and G-Dragon seemed to have many of the same mannerisms and habits the charismatic, smooth mafia men from movies did. Jung Hoon  scowls as he remembers Amy, whose real name he later found out was Eun Mi when he saw G-Dragon open his wallet. A picture of her and a handwritten, slightly scandalous note from her was signed. YG released an official statement that all his promotions were halted so he could be given time to reflect on his actions. Jung Hoon looks at G-Dragon's defiant, confident back strolling through his lavish hallways. Reflect, my . 

"You have a nice house," he tells G-Dragon.

"Thanks."

"How much do you get paid?" 

G-Dragon smirks. "Fairly." A lot more than your managees, I bet. G-Dragon's eyes linger a bit longer than necessary on Jung Hoon's slightly scuffed shoes and remembers that he manages a group which is made up of members that still mostly dorm together. "How much do you get paid?"

"Enough," Jung Hoon says shortly. He gags a little when his tongue reaches a particularly sensitive part of his mouth that still has remnants of alcohol on it. "So. Let's cut down to business, shall we?"

"Alright," G-Dragon says, amused. "Just to make sure I understood our agreement...you say that you'd tell me the truth to anything and everything I ask, and in return, you want me to give you the details on YG's contracts?"

"Yeah."

G-Dragon chuckles and sits down on one of the barstools in his kitchen. He opens a nearby Monster, and smirks at Jung Hoon's curious look of seeing something unfamiliar and weird to him. "Energy drink. From the States. Want to try some?"

Jung Hoon gingerly shakes his head. "Do you have any ginseng drinks? Or tea instead?"

"...there's some Monster with ginseng in it."

"...no thanks."

G-Dragon shrugs and chugs down the Monster. Jung Hoon wonders if he's going to look forty when he's thirty or get cancer or someething later. "Well," G-Dragon says after five seconds. "I'm not sure if you'll tell me the truth."

"And I'm not sure if you'll tell me facts, either," Jung Hoon retorted.

G-Dragon rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine. So..."

"What the--they get paid that much?!" Sungmin interrupts Leeteuk. 

"Well, if GD didn't lie to Jung Hoon," Leeteuk says. "GD said their royalties were based on the standard of the American music industry."

***

"I don't believe you," Shindong says when Leeteuk finally finishes. 

Leeteuk scowls and crosses his arms. "There's nothing I can do to make you believe me. But this is all I heard from Jung Hoon, so either he or GD is lying. And..."

"Yeah yeah yeah," Kyuhyun interrupts. Leeteuk scowls at Kyuhyun again, wanting to smack some respect into the youngest member. Kyuhyun bites his lip. "Okay. I didn't tell you all in the van that day, but I heard something really important from Changmin."

Yesung raises an eyebrow. "Really?" 

"No, I just said that to be an attention ," Kyuhyun snaps. 

"Hey, respect your elders," nearly everyone else says. 

Kyuhyun grumbles, and petulantly takes a sip of some coffee. It calms him down a bit. I really like Kona coffee, he thinks. We need some stores that sell coffee like this here. 

"Well, what did Changmin say?" Hyukjae asks.

"He said...that he knows for sure there are some gays in our industry," Kyuhyun says. "I know that might not really surprise some of you, but I heard some names from Changmin, and just thought I should make sure it was all true before I told you all."

Ryeowook yawns. Kyuhyun glares, and Ryeowook eeps. "I was tired," the shorter man squeaks. 

"Who are they?" Sungmin asks. 

Kyuhyun looks at them warily. "Well, I'd tell you, but then you might tell some other people..."

", Kyuhyun, just tell us," Leeteuk says impatiently. 

"...what if one of them was from our agency?" 

Yunho and Jaejoong, Hyukjae thinks. "You don't have to tell us them," Hyukjae says. "But is there anyone that would let us have a little leverage over them if they somehow found...past evidence?" 

***

Donghae feels horrible. He thinks he had done nothing but burden Hyukjae. It was always him that kept me company or taught me dance moves when we were trainees, Donghae realizes. Sure, Kibum, Siwon, and Leeteuk talked with me, too...but Hyukjae's different. And now, even when I'm not near him, I somehow managed to stress him out. 

"Hey," a familiar voice says behind him. Donghae closes his eyes to calm himself down a little before turning around.

"Hi, Hyukjae," Donghae says. He's glad that Hyukjae doesn't correct him in the dorms like Leeteuk does when he calls him by his natural name.   

"Your room is so messy," Hyukjae says, scrunching his nose up playfully. Just act friendly, just act friendly. Try and treat him like anyone else, Hyukjae reminds himself. 

Donghae blinks confusedly at Hyukjae's not professional tone, before cracking a wide smile. "Yeah," he says, laughing. He knows what Hyukjae said wasn't really funny, and if Siwon or someone else said it, he would've just smiled defiantly at them, but Hyukjae was always a different case to him. And I'm realizing this now, Donghae thinks. "Um...can you help me clean it up?" Donghae asks daringly, just hoping to make Hyukjae stay a little longer. Then he remembers they have a housekeeper, and flushes. I don't want Hyukjae to think I'm using him. "I, I mean," Donghae stutters just as Hyukjae opens his mouth. "We haven't hung out...lately, and...I thought group members should do that?" He ends uncertainly, and tries not to feel nervous when Hyukjae looks at him with an unreadable face. 

Hyukjae chews his bottom lip. Well, I actually came in here because of that. "Yeah. I'd like that."

***

Hyukjae and Donghae just talk. Although they did this daily when they were roommates in their trainee days, Donghae had never really realized how happy Hyukjae made him before. 

Hyukjae feels a little startled every time Donghae laughs. Was his laugh this beautiful before? Hyukjae thinks incredulously before he mentally slaps himself.

***

Donghae wants to help Hyukjae or at least make him laugh like Hyukjae can to him, but he has no idea how. So, Donghae jealously watches Kyuhyun and Hyukjae's interactions. He could practically feel Leeteuk's exasperated gaze whenever he does.

"What if Kyuhyun and Hyukjae are secretly dating?" Donghae whispers as he notices Kyuhyun carefully examining a bruise Hyukjae got from a dance practice an hour ago. 

Not this again, Leeteuk mentally groans. "Donghae, get a hold of yourself. They are not dating. Kyuhyun..."

Donghae's not able to hear another word as Kyuhyun starts to rub some kind of cream on the bruise, which was on Hyukjae's lower back."That jerk Changmin told me it can cure anything, even my acne," Kyuhyun says annoyedly. "But I used it for some bruises I got, since it's made out of mucopolysaccharide polysulfuric acid..." he stops when he notices Donghae determinedly walking towards them. "What?" He asks.   

"....Leeteuk wants to give you some advice on hosting. Especially now that you've replaced Heechul in Radio Star."

What. Leeteuk thinks. 

"...but Hyukjae--"

"I got it," Donghae says. "Isn't that convenient?" He tried to ignore the three pairs of incredulous eyes looking at him. 

Hyukjae looks kind of uncomfortable. "Well, Leeteuk can teach Kyuhyun in fifteen seconds. This cream doesn't require much time to apply anyway."

Fml, Donghae and Leeteuk think for entirely different reasons. 

***

Kyuhyun suspects that Donghae's trying really hard to get Hyukjae back recently. And Kyuhyun doesn't like it one bit. It's not because he's in love with Hyukjae like some typical love triangle plot device, but because he honestly liked and respected Hyukjae as a friend. And because Donghae was just a lot touchier than necessary with Hyukjae lately.

Kyuhyun glares at the other side of SM's practice room. Donghae's massaging Hyukjae's shoulders a little too contentedly and Hyukjae looks kind of unsure of what to do.

"You're acting like an overprotective father," Sungmin whispers when Kyuhyun almost snarls at Donghae.

"No, I'm not. I just don't want Hyukjae to get hurt again," Kyuhyun says grumpily. 

***

Juggernaut. A force that's mercilessly destructive and unstoppable. 

Donghae thinks he has always loved Hyukjae, but he has never really realized its intensity until now. He remembers hearing Leeteuk say, "You never treasure something until you lost it." The possibility the reason why he wants Hyukjae back now is because he just doesn't have him makes Donghae very quiet and contemplative. He tries to ignore his insecurities, though, andbuild up Hyukjae's trust in him again first.

***

In order to not get rusty, Hyukjae practices dancing with the younger members of SM. At first, it stung when he could hear the whispers that 'Eunhyuk isn't so great' and 'Kai is definitely better than him', but Hyukjae tries to ignore it all in sake of getting better. And he does. 

"Honestly, I thought Taemin was better than you before," Yunho admits. "But now it's definitely down to you or Kai."

"Kai's being prepared for his debut," Hyukjae says. He asks cheekily, "And what happened to you?"

Yunho says, unperturbed, "I'm good, but I know I'm lacking a certain flow and timing in my movements. But I don't care--I have other stuff on my plate right now."

***

Donghae starts talking to his previous acting teacher again, who is now one out of four at SM.

Mrs. Kang motherly greets Donghae with a warm hug, and lets him listen in on her lessons with the new trainees. At first they can't pay attention because their heads keep swiveling back to Donghae, but then Mrs. Kang places him in the front with her, and all of them are very, very attentive. Especially the girls.

"Hey," says one girl, coming up to him after class.

"Hi--Ga-Yun?" Donghae replies.

The girl prettily smiles. Although she was a looker and seemed to be one of the best students, Donghae's kind of wary of her. He saw her previously talking to some of the other male idols and soon-to-debut trainees, and got the feeling that her actions were carefully calculated. "Wow, I didn't expect you to remember my name," she says. 

Donghae notices Hyukjae outside the open door of the room. He's looking at Ga-Yun and Donghae with an unreadable expression, but when he notices Donghae saw him, he quickly walks on. 

***

"I noticed you don't touch the members offcam as much now," Leeteuk tells Siwon.

Siwon shrugs. "Didn't want to be gay." 

He receives a somewhat overprotective glare from Kyuhyun who's sitting next to Hyukjae.

Overprotective father, Sungmin thinks, and kicks Kyuhyun under the table. 

"Well, that's good," Leeteuk says. "Because Kibum told me no matter who you are, your body will respond in a certain way to some actions--by almost anyone actually. He found this out in some underground...acting class."

"Underground acting class," Kyuhyun deadpanned. "Wow, Leeteuk."

Siwon scowls. "What I did for camaraderie and what KIbum's doing in clubs is totally different."

The conversation reminds Hyukjae and Donghae of something, and the two briefly share an unsure, but meaningful glance. Kyuhyun notices this and scowls. Fine, I may be a little overprotective, he thinks. 

*** 

SNSD aren't the golden girls of Korea without a reason. Donghae knows that SNSD has less weak links vocally-wise than Super Junior, and that SNSD was also very good-looking. He also knew that they practiced long hours. What he didn't know was the extent of their social network.

"You talk with MInzy?!" Donghae exclaims, surprised. He was peeking over Hyoyeon's shoulder nosily when she received a new text message.

"No ," Hyoyeon says. 

Leeteuk frowns disapprovingly at her. "You shouldn't talk like that," Leeteuk says. "You're part of a..."

"Yeah yeah yeah," Hyoyeon interrupts. 

***

Hyukjae honestly tries to think of it as just fanservice. So, he forces a smile or suave blaseness whenever Donghae dares to touch him on stage. Then SS4 Taiwan comes, and Hyukjae about loses it. Donghae roams his hand over Hyukjae's chest while giving off the 'this is perfectly acceptable' thought vibe. 

Deciding he might as well please the fans if he and Donghae were required to touch each other a la rules of fanservice, Eunhyuk starts ing Donghae's shirt in a later show. He feels a little satisfied with Donghae's look of discomfort, so he starts ing Donghae's lower shirt buttons as well. Donghae pushes his hand away, and Hyukjae inwardly cheers. Maybe he'll tone it down later, he thinks.

Then Donghae goes straight for Hyukjae's belt. Onstage and all. Gah, Hyukjae thinks as he covers himself with his jacket. 

***

"He's trying to seduce you," Kyuhyun tells Hyukjae bluntly.

Hyukjae says with a confidence he doesn't feel, "Well, other people besides him have tried it and failed before."

Huh. "Like who?" Kyuhyun asks. 

***

Their managers are trying to negotiate with SM for better contracts. The big shots are still rather leery of even continuing Super Junior, though. They don't know how long people would stay interested in such an old band.

I heard we're going to be replaced with Exo.  

Exo is pretty good.

Have you seen Kai dance?

Thoughts like these swirl around the members' heds.

***

Hyukjae has dated other people since breaking up with Donghae. He tries to make the relationships good in every way he heard about. The girls would reciprocate, and one even sent him cute little pictures of her each day telling him in a captioned sentence what she did and why the day was special. Or just a quote. Hyukjae feels touched, but he always feel that there's something missing from his relationships that was present with Donghae.

He's very frustrated. Is it because Donghae is a guy? He thinks. He discreetly looks at other men that are generally considered attractive, like Siwon in the van and TOP on TV, but feels no attraction whatsoever. Hyukjae tries to convince himself it's because Donghae kind of looks like a girl, but Donghae hates doing anything remotely feminine. He hates aegyo and when they had found out they had to perform Single Ladies in those entirely too short mini-dresses in Super Show 3, Donghae literally begged on his knees not to be one of the dancers for that. His complaints were unheeded because SM wanted the main dancers of Super Junior for the job. 

It's just because I knew him for too long, Hyukjae wildly guesses again. 

"What are you thinking about, oppa?" His new girlfriend asks him. 

***

Hyukjae breaks up with her a week later.

***

Hyukjae tries to think about Choco, strawberries, and uny thoughts when he and Donghae hugs onstage for SS4 Paris.

***

He feels like the world is conspiring against him when only he and Donghae are going to Japan. Sure, one of their managers is coming along, but...what about hotel room arrangements? Hyukjae wanted to ask, but he was kind of afraid of the answer Seunghwan might give him. 

Donghae softly smiles at him at the airport. "Ready?"