“1, 2, 3…” Kris counted off before he and the rest of the members of EXO bowed altogether while saying, “We are one! Thank you, we are EXO!”

It was another tiring day for the new yet internationally famous group EXO who had just done another performance on a live show. The twelve-member group stuffed themselves in the vans and left for the SM entertainment building. In one van were Kris, Sehun, Luhan, Kai and Chanyeol while in the other van were Tao, Baekhyun, Lay, Suho, Xiumin, D.O. and Chen.

“Ah~ so tiring~” Kai groaned as he stretched his legs to the headrest of the seat in front of him – which happened to be that of Kris. Kris grumbled and swore under his breath as Kai’s socked feet hit his head.

“Kai, what the--” Kris tried to turn his head but decided not to since he would be facing the male’s feet.

“Ah~ just leave me be, hyuuung~” Kai stretched further, his arm hitting Luhan who was sitting by his left side.

“Ouch,” Luhan grumbled, eyeing the sleepy male by his side. He mimicked his movements, pretending to yawn as well, “Ah~ yeah~ I agree~” He stretched his right arm and pushed Kai’s face to the window.

“Mmm…! Hyung~!” Kai wailed, hoping that no fangirl would see his squashed face on the window as they drove by the sidewalks. “Why are you doing this to meee~?”

“Haha. You started it.” Luhan said with a smirk, still pushing Kai’s face on the window.

Sehun, who was seated beside Luhan, chuckled lightly as the two carried on their little game. Kris’ grumbling could be heard from the front seat telling the two to stop and shut up.

“Hey, you two, cut it out.” Kris turned his head around, relieved to find Kai’s feet no longer resting on his headrest. “You’re going to wake the sleeping giant at the back.”

At that moment, Sehun, Luhan and Kai turned their heads to the last row of the van where a sleeping Chanyeol lay flat on his stomach.

Kai whined, “Weh~ Why does hyung get to have one whole row all to himself?! That’s not fair!”

Sehun, “Well it can’t be helped since Chanyeol-hyung is like Kris-hyung.”

Kris whipped his head back, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Sehun smiled like an angel, “Nothing, hyung~”

Meanwhile, Luhan twisted his torso to reach out and poke Chanyeol’s side. “Hey~ Hey~ Hey, hey~” He grinned, eyeing Kris one last time before turning back to Chanyeol, “Ayo wassup~?”

Chanyeol jerked like a fish and charged forward like a buffalo, hitting his head on the side of the car. “Ow! Who did that?!” He whined.

“You did.” Sehun chuckled, covering his mouth since it was pretty bad for a maknae to laugh at his hyung.

Chanyeol rubbed his head and tried to sit… if he could.  He positioned his long limbs and squeezed himself to be able to sit upright. He sighed in relief when he finally got in place. Luhan was still staring at him.

“What is it hyung? Did I miss anything?” Chanyeol asked, bobbing up and down on his seat and causing a slight movement in the moving vehicle.

“Chanyeol! Stop that! You’re putting us in danger!” Their manager screamed from the front of the car.

Chanyeol shrunk in his seat before he looked back at Luhan who smiled at him.

“Chanyeol, you have a mark on your cheek~” Luhan hummed, pointing to Chanyeol’s right cheek.

“Huh?!” Chanyeol’s eyes widened. “Wh-Where?! Take it out, hyung! Help!”

Luhan grinned and extended out his hand and pinched Chanyeol’s cheek, “Right here~”

“Ow! Ow! Hyung~!” Chanyeol whined.

Sehun blinked and stared at the two. “But Luhan-hyung, there doesn’t seem to be a mark on Chanyeol-hyung’s cheek…”

“Hush, Sehun!” Luhan hissed, nudging the younger one to play along. “He doesn’t need to know that~”

“And I thought I was the mischievous one.” Kai sighed, leaning back on his seat and stretching his legs again.

At the front of the seat, Kris sighed, rubbing his temple with one hand. “I wonder how the other guys at the other van are doing…”

Meanwhile, in the second van, Tao had his eyes closed as he listened to his iPod. He was totally relaxed and completely oblivious to what was going on behind him.

Chen had been trying to mimic the opera singer he was listening to in his own iPod. He had been wailing and screaming for ten minutes. It had started when the group was still backstage, getting ready to leave.

D.O., who was seating beside Chen, had his eyes wide open and a strained smile on his face, trying to understand what was going on. He turned to look at Xiumin by his left who was covering his ears and puffing out his cheeks. D.O. tilted his head and asked in an extra loud voice since Chen’s ‘singing’ overpowered him. “H-Hyung! What are you doing? Are you holding your breath?!”

Xiumin shook his head and rolled his eyes at Chen, who was now passionately serenading to Suho’s headrest.

Suho leaned back on his seat and laughed in a defeated manner, “Ahaha~ I’m aging more because of this~”

Lay sighed before shouting in the hopes that Chen would hear him, “Chen! Stop that! Any longer and I’ll lose more memory cells!”

Baekhyun looked back and made a face as Chen, who had his hand on his chest and his head pulled back, wailed an extra loud note.

Xiumin had enough. He grabbed the back of D.O.’s head and pushed the male down so that he could hit Chen on the head. Chen jerked forward and pulled his earphones out, turning his head around to see nearly every member glaring at him.

“Wh-What?” Chen shrugged, ready to put the earphones back in again to resume his ‘singing’.

“NO!” Everyone shouted, even D.O. who still had his head between his legs since Xiumin pushed him down even more.

“I swear I’m forgetting more than I should because of you.” Lay shook his head before turning back to face the front of the car, slightly jealous that Tao was close to sleeping at the front seat.

Just when all seemed to calm down, Xiumin suddenly held the sides of the car nearest to him and screamed, “STOP!”

The van screeched to a halt and everyone jerked forwards. Tao still remained asleep. He rocked forwards and nearly hit his head on the compartment in front of him but was saved when their other manager pushed him back on the chair.

The manager turned around and spat, “What is it this time?!”

“Look! Bao zi! There’s a Bao zi stand! Let’s go, hyung!”

“NO.” The manager flatly said.

“What~?!” Xiumin whined and cried, making more noise than Chen ever did. Chen widened his eyes and pulled back, pulling his earphones in his ears again and resumed mimicking the opera singer in his iPod.

Xiumin screamed, “But I’m hungry! I haven’t eaten anything at all!”

“Just wait till we get back!” the manager screamed back and started the car again.

Xiumin’s wailing and Chen’s ‘singing’ finally caused Tao to stir awake. He opened his eyes slowly and pulled his earphones out of his ears, turning to look at the rest of the group who looked like they had died twice.

“What’s going on, guys?” Tao asked, a small smile on his face – ignoring the wailing and screaming at the back seat.

Baekhyun lolled his head to one side. Suho pretended to cry. D.O.’s eyes widened some more and Lay sighed, shaking his head saying, “Nothing, Tao. Nothing’s going on at all.”

The two vans finally arrived and both groups exited them looking like they had lost half of their lives. But they quickly recovered as soon as cameramen and cameras came rushing in to film them.

“What the…” Kris grumbled as he stepped out of the van and turned to look at the rest of the members. He whispered to the three standing closest to him which were Luhan, Sehun and Kai. “Hey, what’s going on? Any of you know what’s going on?”

Kai shrugged before flashing a smile at one camera. “Beats me but who cares? They’re here for us, right?”

Sehun had his usual poker face on and stood closer to Luhan. Luhan did his typical lip-biting as he looked around him.

The group from the second van stepped out as well. Suho was first to step out and he immediately smiled awkwardly at the people in front of him, his eyes darting to the group from the first van to see what they were doing. Tao got out next from the front seat and immediately froze in place. Lay stumbled because Tao blocked the way outside the van.

“Tao! Move!” Lay hissed softly as he got a quick look at the many cameras in front of them. Tao inched to the side and Lay stood beside him.

Baekhyun already saw what was happening and so was ready. He stepped out of the van and smiled, fixing his clothes as he did so. He leaned towards Suho to whisper, “Hyung, what’s going?”

Suho leaned his head and whispered back, “I have no idea, Baekhyun… and I don’t think the others from the first van know either.”

The last three left the van and looked around the small crowd surrounding them nervously. Kris walked over to the second group and their manager to try and assess the situation.

“Don’t worry, just ignore them.” Their manager grinned from ear to ear and left first.

Kris looked shocked and turned to look at the rest of the members who shrugged and looked lost as well. Kris decided to lead them and so he walked first towards the building with the rest following after him.

“Hyung, what’s going on?” Chanyeol barked as he caught up to Kris.

“I don’t know. We’ll find out soon.” Kris sighed as he looked around to see the cameras and cameramen following after them.

As they entered the building, all the members kept their eyes sharp to observe the surroundings to see if something was off or if someone would explain to them why the staff was filming them.

Hmmm… It seems normal in here. Kris thought as he looked around the ground floor just to see a receptionist behind the desk and a familiar figure. That someone looked back, noticing the slight commotion that just took place near the entrance. He then made a big smile and waved at the twelve confused guys and motioned for them to come.

Chanyeol held Kris’ wrist for support as he still had his smile wide as always.

“Why are they following us?” Tao asked unconsciously. “Are we in a show or something?” He murmured to Sehun.

Sehun just shrugged a little as he himself didn’t know what was going on. “Our manager-hyungs hasn’t informed us of another schedule…”

“If we are in a show… what show do you think it is?” Luhan asked curiously with excitement in his eyes.

“Omo… Maybe we are in Running Man?” Chanyeol grinned as he looked back to see the other members.

“Oh! I know… Maybe we are in Hello Baby?” Baekhyun asked randomly.

“Oooohh~ That would be exciting!!” Suho agreed.

Kris just stared straight and made his walk to the reception table and saw that the familiar figure was Kangta. The moment that they reached him, all of the members fell silent and bowed at him and greeted. “Good morning, sunbaenim!”

“Good morning, kids! Have you eaten breakfast?” He asked with a wide smile.

“Not yet.” Xiumin pouted, remembering the incident earlier.

“Hahaha~ So cute, Xiumin-sshi.” Kangta moved his head a little to face Xiumin. “You guys should eat at the cafeteria now. There are many freshly baked goods there since it’s still early in the morning.”

“Umm, excuse me, sunbaenim, but do you have any idea why they are filming us?” Suho pointed at the staff not too secretly filming behind them.

Kangta looked confused at first while tilting his head but then recognition filled his eyes a few seconds after. “Ahh~ Hahaha~ that reminds me! Congratulations to you guys!!” He beamed at them and lifted both his arms in the air.

“What? Why are you congratulating us?” Kai asked awkwardly.

“Because…” Kangta clapped his hands once. “You guys did well and I’m so proud for all of you~”

“Ahh… Is this why they are filming us?” Lay asked, a little confused with whatever was going on around them, the cameramen and staff buzzing behind them.

“Mhm~ Even with my age, you guys still got ahead of me.” Kangta pouted, shaking his head.

“Eh?” Almost all of them asked at once.

“Oh look, there is my manager-hyung.” Kangta pointed and quickly ran to him.

Tao frowned. “What was that all about? I feel like he’s hiding something from us.”

Chen frowned as well. “I didn’t get anything from what he just said.”

“I don’t care anymore. I’m gonna go to the cafeteria to eat. Who is coming with me?” Xiumin turned around to walk his way to the cafeteria.

“I am~! Wait for me hyung!” Chanyeol raised his right hand and ran to catch up to Xiumin.

Baekhyun, Tao and Chen quietly followed suit as the other remaining members stood still, looking lost as ever until Kris and Suho just shrugged it off and decided to go to their room to have a little rest. 

“Wait up, Hyung! Where are you two going?” Kai asked as he grabbed each of their shoulders.

“To place our things at our room and relax for a bit.” Suho answered Kai as Kris just continued to walk to the elevator.

“I’ll come with you~” Kai said and wondered one thing. “Can we sleep?” He asked Suho in a whisper.

“I’m not sure… I guess you can’t since they are filming us… Some of the cameramen even went to follow Xiumin and the others.” Suho murmured, noticing a small group hurriedly catching up to the cafeteria.

“Aww, man~” Kai complained.

Sehun poked Luhan on the cheek. “Hey, hyung. What do you want to do?” Sehun asked as the two of them got left behind at the reception area as one of the cameramen stayed behind to film them.

Luhan grinned and looked at the camera squarely. “Can I?” He asked curiously.

The cameraman understood him and handed him the heavy video camera. The moment Luhan got a hold of it; he was amazed all at once. “Look Sehunnie~ I am filming you~” Luhan called back as he aimed the camera to Sehun.

“Hahaha~ Stop it hyung~” Sehun said shyly as he tried to cover his face.

“Hahaha~ So cute,” Luhan then handed the camera back to the cameraman.

“Wanna go to the room now?” Sehun asked.

“Sure, I’m okay with it.” Luhan agreed. He turned back to the camera and grinned at it once again. “We are going to our group’s room.” He whispered to the camera. “Come on, let’s see what Suho and the others are doing.”

As Sehun and Luhan reached the designated floor, they saw their Eunhyuk and Yunho-hyungs talking to each other facing away from them.

“Hyung!” Luhan called out and waved.

Yunho turned his head and saw Luhan and Sehun. “Omo! You guys have arrived! Congratulations!!” Yunho yelled out.

Eunhyuk turned around as well and grinned at Luhan and Sehun deviously. “Congratulations!” He bowed. “You have done well… Really well.” He grabbed Luhan’s hand for a hand shake as well as Sehun’s.

“Hahaha~ What’s happening, hyung?” Sehun asked Yunho and Eunhyuk who were just grinning widely.

“Kangta-sunbaenim congratulated us as well earlier when we saw him by the reception area.” Luhan continued. “But we don’t have any clue what’s happening…” His eyes glanced back at the cameraman behind them filming the whole thing.

Yunho patted Luhan’s arm. “You will know sooner or later.”

“Hahaha~ He’s right.”

“Please tell us hyung~” Sehun pouted at Eunhyuk.

“Hahaha! Not a chance.”

“We should get going now, we’re gonna grab something to eat.” Yunho informed as he hooked his arm around Eunhyuk’s neck.

Luhan and Sehun just nodded and bowed again as a goodbye.

The moment Yunho and Eunhyuk disappeared; Sehun sighed and looked at the camera. “You really won’t tell us what’s going on?” He asked, hoping that he would get an answer but the camera just shook from side to side. It was a ‘No.’.

Luhan chuckled at this. “Come on, let’s get to our room and see if the others have found out something.”

When they reached the EXO room, it was already open and they saw many people there. They went inside as they saw all of their SNSD-noonas inside the room with Suho, Kris and Kai.

Kai was already playing with Sunny at the game station while Tiffany, Jessica and Hyoyeon watched the two players while cheering them on. Yoona, Yuri, Sooyung, Taeyeon and Seohyun ate merrily with the rest of the guys as they chatted about something random.

Taeyeon was the first one to notice the new comers and grinned widely at them. “Hey, you two~ Want to eat with us? We are celebrating for your success.”

“Umm… Thank you but what is the celebration all about?” Sehun asked once again.

Sooyung pointed her index finger at the cameras all over them while still munching the food inside . Suho looked at the direction where Sooyung pointed and asked “Is this because we’re in a show?”

Sooyung nodded with a smile and made a thumb’s up sign.

“But what show are we in? Do you guys know?” Kris asked as he pulled himself up to sit straight.

“Hahaha~ that, we are not telling~” Yoona chimed in.

“Wae?” Sehun asked.

“We can’t tell you. We don’t have the power to do that.” Yuri grinned.

Suho, Luhan and Sehun looked down in defeat as Kris just stared at the wall.

“Awww man~ you guys are killing me I tell you~” Kai whined but still continued to push the buttons on the controller, trying to beat his Sunny-noona in a game.

The girls chuckled at Kai’s words. “One thing that we can tell you though…” Taeyeon said out loud enough for everyone to hear.

The guys looked up in expectation and looked at Taeyeon with hope in their eyes. Taeyeon smiled at them. “That this would be a really interesting show and that you guys are the first ones to be on it.”

“Ouch! I died!” Kai exclaimed and turned back to look at Taeyeon. “Really?”

Taeyeon nodded happily.

“Wow! That’s cool!” Kai shouted and made a whoop sound.

“Yeah!” Jonghyun chimed in out of nowhere. “Congratulations, EXO!!!” He clapped his hands and made little hops. “Where’s the food?”

“Hahaha~ you got here too late, Jjong!” Jessica exclaimed.

“What?” Jonghyun said exasperatedly. “The food is all gone?”

“Hahaha~ until next time, Jjongie~~” Jessica stuck out her tongue at Jonghyun.

“Wae? This is so unfair~” He whined.

The room was full of laughter but Luhan was thinking of something else.

“Hmm… I wonder if the others have found something out…” Luhan wondered out loud but soft enough that only the cameraman behind him could hear.

Chanyeol, Xiumin, Chen, Tao and Baekhyun ate peacefully at the cafeteria, appreciating the temporary silence inside the room, despite the cameramen around them, when Chen randomly coughed while eating his food.

“Hey, you guys~” Donghae greeted as he caressed Chen’s back, a bit guilty that maybe he had pounded on it too hard.

“Hyung!” Baekhyun greeted. “Do you want to eat?” He offered a piece of dumpling to Donghae.

“Really? I can eat that?” Donghae asked Baekhyun and ate the offered food when the latter nodded. “Thank you.” He saw the camera and looked at it, trying to see if he had his hair alright.

“Hyung~! Come sit with us~!” Chanyeol offered.

“Haha~ No thanks. I’m just here to grab food and go. By the way, congratulations!” Donghae beamed.

“Everyone has been saying that lately.” Chanyeol murmured, pouting out his bottom lip and looking down at his food.

“Do you already know?” Donghae asked innocently.

“Know what?” Tao asked as he tilted his head to one side.

“Hmm~ Nothing! Nobody has told you yet, I guess.”

“Can you tell us, hyung? Why they are filming us?” Baekhyun asked as he just finished sipping his orange juice.

“Afraid not, kid.” Donghae smiled apologetically. “But you’ll enjoy the show… I think…”

“Hyung~! Why are you teasing us?” Chanyeol whined.

“Haha~ Sorry, Channie.” Donghae ruffled Chanyeol’s hair. “I have to go now. See you guys later!”

“Hey, Lay and D.O.!” Taemin greeted the two who were sitting on a bench beside a vending machine with a cameraman still filming them.

“Hello~” D.O. greeted as Lay waved at Taemin.

“I finally found you guys.” Taemin sighed and grinned when he got his breath under control once again. He eyed the camera once then back at the two.

“What? Why?” Lay asked, confused.

“Someone told me that you guys should go to your room now with everyone. I think they will finally announce it.” Taemin grinned.

“Announce what?” D.O. asked.

“Yeah.” Taemin nodded. “The show… You know?”

“Ohhh…” Both Lay and D.O nodded slowly at the same time. Except that D.O.’s eyes widened while doing so.

Taemin chuckled as he reached out and grabbed one of Lay’s and D.O.’s arms to pull them up. “Come on now, up you go~!”

“Hahaha~ okay okay~ We’re going~” D.O. said as he tried to finish his drink in one gulp.

“Oh, Congratulations to you guys as well~!” Taemin shouted a little and waved at the retreating figures of D.O. and Lay.

“Hey, you guys! Wait for us!” Someone shouted as Lay and D.O. were walking to the EXO room.

They both turned their heads to see Chanyeol jogging up to them followed by Tao, Baekhyun, Xiumin and Chen.

“Hello~” D.O. greeted them. His eyes darting to the cameramen walking behind the group. These guys really followed us everywhere, huh?

“You’re going to the room too, right?” Chanyeol asked with a grin.

“Yeah.” Lay nodded.

“Are you guys excited or what?” Chanyeol asked as he made little hops.

“Well, there’s only one way to find out.” Lay said as they all stopped in front of the closed door of their room. Once the others were able to catch up, D.O. turned the knob to open the door and Lay and the others went inside. D.O. was the last to enter as he closed the door. The SNSD-noonas had already left earlier.

“Everyone, sit down.” Their manager instructed seriously. Chanyeol hurriedly made his way to Kris and sat beside him and so did the others who just sat on the floor since there weren’t enough seats in the first place.

As everyone settled down, each of the guys were given invitations to read.

“Everyone should open them at the same time.”

The others waited patiently and just watched as everyone got their individual invitations. The invitations had a member’s name on it. Most of them were very anxious but one of them was plain excited.

“Chanyeol, calm down. Stop bouncing.” Kris muttered silently only for Chanyeol to hear because he didn’t want to be scolded by the manager. The situation looked tense and here was Chanyeol looking like he was getting candy.

Chanyeol moaned.

“Ready?” Kris looked back at everyone, ignoring Chanyeol’s annoyed moan and started to count aloud as he saw them nod. “1... 2…”

Kris paused, eyeing each member who had a hand anxiously holding the tips of their invitations. The leader felt smug and decided to prolong the moment. The anxious silent was too much and Kai whined.

“HYUNG~!”

Kris chuckled and at the number ‘3’, every one of them opened the letter. Silence enveloped the room as they read their invitations, broken only when the boys—

“WHAAAAAT!?!?!” 

Co-author's Note:

The author doesn't know what to say right now. She's still speechless. So I'll do the talking. Here's the first Chapter (or Episode 1)~! :D HOORAY HOORAY~! AT LAST~!!! The story is BEGINNING~~~!!! kjsdklaslkdjasf

As you can see, it's just the EXO guys first. Next episode will have the girls. Are you excited? BWAHA~!

How's the writing? This is a collaboration story which means that it's written by both of us >_< I hope it's good...? ;~; We are open for your comments. YES. WE LOVE COMMENTS SO BRING IT. *bricked*

Stay tuned for next chapter~! :D

-- Keychained

Author's Note:

Hello everyone! I hope Angie and I did well in our collaboration? Hahaha. This is our first time doing so and I hope that we did well. We are very open for comments and suggestions~ And haha. Sorry if I had just recently written the Author's note. I was far too tired to think when Angie asked me and was dozing off our conversation. Haha. Sorry I fell asleep mommy-yeobo~ ><.

So yeah. Hehe. The exo guys are first haha. I just discovered that there could've been more scenes added but well. Me and Angie wanted the chapter to be as short as possible because only the EXO guys are in the chapter and of course, their very well-respected sunbaenims~ Hahaha. Since once the first meeting will start, its gonna be an incredibly long chapter. So yeah~ Prepare yourselves with those chapters hahahaha.

Stay tuned for the next chapter~ We will work hard on it and post it as soon as we can~

-- akemi143