"Hi, I'm Park Jungsu."

Donghae continues chewing his food, until he realizes a pair of eyes is watching him. "W-huh?" He asked intelligently.

An older boy looks like he's trying his best not to roll his eyes. "Park Jungsu. I heard you're Donghae." The older smiles a dimpled, somewhat charming, no-teeth smile. "How do you like SM so far?"

"Um, well, I only went to one class so far, and that didn't turn out so well," Donghae said shyly.

"Oh." The other easily laughs. "That's what we all feel when we arrive here. It'll get better with time. Yunho can attest to that, right?"

A boy with a better complexion than some girls in SM looks up from his ramen. He politely holds out a hand to signal he's chewing food before swallowing and flashing admirable pearly whites. "Yeah, I missed Gwangju for weeks before I finally settled in."

"How old were you when you joined?" Donghae asks.

"Eh, I think 13. I joined in 1999," Yunho replies.

Jungsu gives Yunho a glance that looks like mild approval and respect before turning his attention to Donghae again. "Do you miss home?"

Yunho laughs. "Give him time to answer that. It's his first day here, right?"

Donghae shakes his head at Yunho. "No, I don't need any time. I missed home so much and the food that my dad cooks for me already. I barfed in my first class thinking of the horrible food I heard Seoul has."

Jungsu gives Donghae a strained smile.

"It's not that bad," Yunho said, though he stopped eating his noodles. "You just need to know where to go. I'll take you out to eat sometime."

"Thanks." Donghae gives Yunho a full smile, and Jungsu idly notices how the formerly plain-looking boy could manage to secure a contract with SM through a looks contest. 

"You can come with us, too, if you want," Yunho says to Jungsu. "You free this weekend at 5? It'll be my treat."

Jungsu laughs. "Definitely."

***

Mr. Hwang scrunched his nose. "I remember. You're one of the trainees that signed a contract based on his looks."

Donghae feels very self-conscious from Mr. Hwang's nose and the entire class's eyes. "Um, they noticed me first through that. But I sang and danced a little bit for them, too..." He trails off when he realizes Mr. Hwang's nose is still scrunched.

"He's not that good-looking," a male voice from behind Donghae says. Donghae embarrassedly looks at the floor, and tries not to curl his hands into fists like he did for the past seven years whenever he was upset. 

"Well, it's amazing what expensive clothes, a good haircut, and decent lighting could do," Mr. Hwang said loftily, nose still scrunched. "Sit down, Donghae. Today, each student was supposed to sing a minute of a song of his or her choice, to show how much, if any, improvement was gained in the last month. I guess you could sit out on this one and just watch."

"No," Donghae said immediately. He didn't want to be known as some useless pretty-boy. "I'll go first."

He heard an intake of breath behind him. "Oooh, Hyoyeon, I bet ya he wish he didn't do that after Mr. Hwang's done with him."

"Jessica!" Mr. Hwang said sharply. Donghae saw two boys who were in his acting class earlier stifle laughs. When they noticed he was looking at them, one elbowed the other, who clutched his stomach melodramatically before turning his full face to Donghae. He had a very angular, sharp face that made him look somewhat like a monkey. Donghae remembered what Yunho said about how it was good to make new friends at SM. He weakly smiled at them.

Mr. Hwang said, "Hyukjae and Junsu. Cut it out. You might learn something from this. If he's awful, you can take notes on what not to do in the future."

Donghae grit his teeth. I'll just go now. 

"Junsu doesn't need to take any notes; he's already better than you," Monkey Face said.

A collective gasp filled the whole room, and even Junsu, who Donghae guessed was Hyukjae's partner-in-crime looked shocked.

Mr. Hwang gave them all an icy glare before turning its full force on Hyukjae. "Junsu's talented. And he may or may not be better than me. But I am the most skilled here in instructing you all how to sing, and I hold the most power in this room concerning who to recommend to Lee Soo-Man and the other higher-ups on who's to be the next H.O.T., S.E.S., and Shinhwa. And with your voice the way it is right now, Hyukjae, I assure you that you are not one of those people."

Hyukjae scowled.

"Go." Mr. Hwang's eyes were on Donghae again.

Donghae cleared his throat.

"Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide,
No escape from reality
Open your eyes,
Look up to the skies and see,
I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,
Because I'm easy come, easy go,
Little high, little low,
Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to
me, to me..."

"Stop," Mr. Hwang said, his eyes warmer than they were a minute ago. "That was an English song, right?"

"Yes, sir. Bohemian Rhapody by Queen."

"Are you fluent in English?" Asked Mr. Hwang.

"Um, no, sir. I just love watching English movies and listening to some of their songs," Donghae answered truthfully.

Mr. Hwang smiled at Donghae. He looks a little like dad when he smiles, Donghae thought absentmindedly. "Well, continue what you're doing. And if...no...when SM debuts you, don't stop practicing singing. I know some idols now get lazy and their singing voices deteriorate, but yours is something I'll like to continue hearing. It's a very unique voice."

"I didn't hear his accent at all when he was singing," Yunho said.

"Very good, Yunho," said Mr. Hwang. "Now, go sit by Hyukjae, Donghae. Maybe he would learn from you."

"Yes, Mr. Hwang," Donghae said.

"I hear his accent again," Jessica stage-whispered.

***

Junsu was the best singer in the room, hands down. Hyukjae rapped for thirty seconds before Mr. Hwang angrily cut him off and asked him to never try that again in a singing class, so Hyukjae sang the rest of the thirty seconds.

Donghae thought that was the worst thirty seconds his ears had ever experienced.

Hyukjae's voice was nice to listen to when he wasn't singing. He and Junsu joked around a lot during class, and their commentary while the other trainees sung helped Donghae learn the names of his co-trainees.

"That's Hyoyeon," Junsu explained as a girl with a pleasant, but unextraordinary, voice warbled out the notes to a recently popular ballad. "I'm the best dancer in this room. She's the second-best."

Hyukjae then accused Junsu of having the hots for Hyoyeon, which Junsu vehemently denied.

"What about Jessica?" Asked Donghae.

"Her? She's too American, and she's a real snooty one," Junsu said. Jessica turned around and gave Junsu a death glare.

"Jessica, you're up," Mr. Hwang said.

Jessica sniffed and practically pranced up to the front of the room.

"I like the cold types," Donghae whispered, making sure only Hyukjae and Junsu could hear him.

Hyukjae practically shouted, "WHAT THE--YOU HAVE THE HOTS FOR JESSICA?!"

Hyukjae was sent outside of the room for ten minutes. Junsu was dying--or laughing in a way that looked very like an asthma attack--on the classroom's hardwood floor. Donghae was embarrased. "No, I don't like you like that," he hurriedly explained when the heads of everyone, including Jessica, yet again was turned towards to him. "I honestly prefer foreign girls, so you're not my type, but you're still very pretty, so..."

"Donghae, I think it'd be better if you just stopped talking," Yunho said calmly to the front of him.

"Um, okay."

***

A year passed since Donghae's arrival at SM. Many new trainees came, including one called Kim Jongwoon who Mr. Hwang said can out-sing Junsu. Donghae starts attending a local school in Seoul, since it would cost too much money and time to commute back and forth to Mokpo too often. He makes sure to call his family everyday if he can to make up for only seeing them on Sundays, the only days school and SM's lessons aren't in sessions.

"Tell me about Hyukjae, again," Donghae's dad says.

And Donghae complies. He thinks Hyukjae's the funniest boy he has ever met, and elaborates Hyukjae's amazingness to his dad. "He has really nice lips, too," Donghae babbled. "I found out in the first month that I really missed cuddling with you and Donghwa at home, so sometimes when I'm lonely, I sleep over with him. At first Hyukjae was iffy and kicked me out of his bed. Junsu teased both of us like crazy for some reason, but we later learned our sleeping habits was probably because their families weren't as close as ours. They don't cuddle. Ever. Or have much skinship at all, really. Isn't that horrible?"

"I guess," Donghae's dad was slow in his reply. "You never told me that you...slept in the same bed as him before."

"Oh, I guess that slipped my mind, or because there were so many other things to tell you about him," Donghae said happily. "Like his dancing. I told you about that, before, right? Well, when SM started splitting up the classes into levels, at first I was put into the intermediate one. Junsu, Hyukjae, Yunho, and Hyoyeon were put in the advanced class. I just got moved up yesterday! I'm still excited about that. And we hear rumors that SM's going to put out a new group soon. An all-boys group. I might be in it! With Hyukjae! Wouldn't that be great?"

"..."

"Dad?"

"Donghae?" Dad's voice sounds awfully quiet right now. "You'd tell me everything important happening to you right now, right?"

"Umm...yes. Why?"

"Do you....like anyone right now?"

Whoa. Donghae looked at the phone in shock. I wonder what gave him that idea. "Ew. No. Jessica's breaking out right now, and I like my girls smooth. Hyoyeon annoys Hyukjae too much, and I don't really know the other girls in SM yet. Everyone's heard of BoA, and I'm pretty sure half of the boys who are trainees have crushes on her. She's too high up for my tastes, though. I want someone closer to home."

"...Do you still want kids when you're older, Donghae?"

"Of course! I want to be to them what you are to me, appa." Donghae smiles serenely. "I want to play with them, cook for them, and sleep with them when they're feeling lonely or scared that something will get them in the night. Honestly, I'm still kind of paranoid about the dark. That's why I sleep with Hyukjae most of the time, even though he's still mean to me or weird about it whenever I try that."

***

". You watch ."

"...Yeah. So?"

"..." Donghae looks at Hyukjae, shocked. "I'm so not going to sleep with you tonight. ert."

Hyukjae flushes. "What the--you--I've never done anything to you in your sleep! And you're the one who usually semi-molests me!"

Donghae blinks. "Anything to me in your sleep? Semi-molest?"

Junsu finishes chewing his bulgogi (Korean BBQ) languidly before asking,"Awww, is Hyukjae upset that Donghae's not sleeping with him tonight?"

"Shhhhh!" Hyukjae hisses, looking around the restaurant hurriedly. "Don't say these kind of things in public, man!"

"Why not? Somehow half of SM knows that you two are sleeping together already anyway."

Hyukjae splutters. "Y-you...d-don't phrase things like that."

"Semi-molest?" Donghae squints. "How do I semi-molest him?"

Junsu snorts. "You're joking."

Donghae blinks. "Doesn't molest mean to ually harass someone? I don't remember ually harassing Hyukjae."

Hyukjae looks like he's about to die on the spot. Junsu does, too, but it's because he's having a laughing fit/minor asthma attack.

"You just don't know personal boundaries. Or space," Hyukjae grumbles, viciously stabbing at his galbi (grilled pork ribs).

"Does it make you uncomfortable?" Donghae asks.

"Sometimes."

Donghae frowns. "Well, next time, say something. I don't want to make you unhappy, Hyukjae."

The table's very silent. In the uncomfortable way. Donghae has no idea why, but he notices Junsu's eyes had narrowed slightly. Donghae feels uneasy, so he reaches for Hyukjae's hand. Hyukjae bites his lip, but doesn't pull away when their fingers make contact.

"I think BoA's hot," Junsu says suddenly. "Don't you think so, Donghae?"

"Um, sure," Donghae says. He notices another look being passed between Junsu and Hyukjae, and Donghae feels like he's being left out of something important. "Okay. What's going on?"

"Huh?" Junsu asks.

Donghae lets go of Hyukjae's hand. "You two have been acting weird around me lately. Whenever I gave Hyukjae hugs in the past month, he stiffens up and tries to get away. You look at me like I'm some kind of nasty virus half of the time, and whenever I do skinship with someone else when you two are around, your looks get nastier, and Hyukjae's looking even though he doesn't look at me whenever we do skinship, which I think makes no sense. At all."

"Oh, I didn't notice that last part," Junsu says slowly, looking at Hyukjae. Hyukjae narrows his eyes slightly, and returns to stabbing his galbi, which Donghae now realizes had remained uneaten for the past ten minutes.

"Well, what did I do?" Donghae says impatiently.

"It's....excuse us for a few minutes," Hyukjae says, grabbing Junsu's wrist and pulling him to the men's restroom. Donghae furrows his brows. It's ten minutes later when they both return, wearing strained smiles.

"Hyukjae needs to tell you something," Junsu says.

"Um, okay," says Donghae.

Hyukjae takes a deep breath. "I think BoA's mind-blowingly hot."

Donghae raises one eyebrow. "Um, okay," he repeats.

"I to her sometimes."

"Ew," both Junsu and Donghae say. Junsu wrinkles his nose in an impression of Mr. Hwang. "We did not need to know that."

"So...um, yeah. I was wondering. Who do you to, Donghae?" Hyukjae finishes.

"What the hell, Hyukjae." Junsu punches Hyukjae's shoulder in frustration. Donghae wishes he knows the reason why.

"You're a ert," Donghae realizes out loud. "Why the hell do you want to..." Donghae's eyes widen. "Oh. Oh. I think I know why we're talking about this.You both think I'm gay. And that I like Hyukjae. Am I right?" Donghae glares at the both of them.

"..."

"Well, I can assure you, I am definitely not. Who I to is totally my business, but I will let you know that my jerk-target is not one of you, and would never be."

The galbi falls off the end of Hyukjae's chopsticks as he stares at Donghae, open-mouthed.

"Wow, I didn't expect him to be so blunt about it." Junsu blinks.

"So, now all that's been taken care of, I'm going to finish my dak galbi (stir-fried marinated chicken)." Donghae haughtily made sure to chew extra hard on the juicy meat so its gochujang based sauce would squirt on Hyukjae when he bit down on it.

***

"You again?"

"Yeah. Move aside, ." Donghae pushes Hyukjae to the left side of the bed and Junsu grumbles from the other bed in their dorm.