Ending (you're welcome...)
Ego Problems
Taemin hissed as the straightening iron touched his neck. “Aish that hurts!”
The hairdresser bowed her head. “Mianhae-yo, but you moved your head…” she trailed off as she caught sight of the anger on the usually innocent and smiling face.
“Do it right next time.” He continued to play the game on his phone and grumbled when Onew took it away from him. “Hyung I was about to beat my high score!”
“No, what you need to do know is apologize. Without her help, we would never get you ready in time for the stage.”
Everyone was currently backstage of Music Bank for the much awaited comeback of Jonghyun and Taemin. They hadn’t released a music video yet, wanting to do a live stage first.
Taemin’s guilty conscience surfaced, but his ego pushed it back down. “No, she burned me. Look at the red spot!” He childishly stuck his tongue out with a “mehrong” at the hairstylist and tried to get back his phone.
Minho walked over and pushed the maknae back down. “Okay we’re going to have a serious talk when we get back to the dorm today. You and Jonghyun are getting way too conceited. You two aren’t any more important than everyone else who works here. These people can go to the reporters, say everything about your behavior lately and your images will be ruined.”
“We aren’t conceited, it’s just the truth!”
Onew sighed. “Just hurry up and try not to mess up the performance. You know the drill. Come on Minho, we have to go meet with the PDs.”
Jonghyun grinned as he grabbed Taemin and whisked him backstage. “Come on Tae, it’s almost time for us to go on.”
The two meandered backstage and Taemin heard a “hyung!” The two turned around to see another pair waving at them.
Jonghyun raised an eyebrow at the two younger boys. “Are you supposed to be our backup dancers? You don’t look like much.”
The shorter boy blinked. “Excuse me?”
Stepping forward, Taemin gave them a fake smile. “Make sure you don’t mess up, okay? It’s our comeback stage. But even if you do mess up, it’ll be fine. We’re going to take first place again anyways.”
“Taemin hyung,” the taller boy looked like he was either going to burst into tears or hit something. “What happened to you? D.O., they’re acting weird.”
“Calm down Kai.” D.O. muttered and pulled his friend back.
Taemin frowned and studied the two younger boys in front of him. “Do I know you?”
“How would you know worthless dancers like him?” Jonghyun asked curiously. “We haven’t been in Korea for very long.”
“No you haven’t” growled the one named Kai.
“Oh then you shouldn’t call us hyung, call us sunbaes. If you do a good job today, maybe I’ll allow you to call me hyung” Taemin huffed.
“And what if I’m older than you?”
“Then I guess I’ll be a sunbae forever.”
“Ignore them, it’s our turn now Minnie, let’s go.” Jonghyun ushered his friend away and on stage.
Kai glared at the famous duo. “Something’s wrong with them.”
“They just went back on their promise. Cheer up Kai! It’s our debut stage. We’ve been waiting for this for several years now.”
“Yeah.”
Jonghyun and Taemin were flawless as usual, their vocal skills and complicated dance techniques gaining a lot of praise. Even if they were gone for a while, the fans were more than willing to forgive them.
But a few noticed that their song wasn’t jaw-droppingly different from their usual selection. It was pretty techno, high notes for Jonghyun to hit, and was just as impressive as before. There was nothing too new, it was just what was expected. Some were happy, others…not so much.
The two smiled once they were done and bowed as usual. Key handed them towels and water bottles backstage. “Good job you two.”
Jonghyun smirked. “What were you guys so worried about?”
Key sighed. “I’m not sure…I just have this bad feeling. Why don’t you guys go and wait in the room and watch the show from there.”
Taemin collapsed on the couch just as the MCs announced the debut stage of another duo from SM entertainment. “Wait what? There’s a new debut and we didn’t know about it? And whose idea was that? Scheduling our comeback with a debut.” He grumbled angrily.
Clearing , a passing staff member muttered, “SM thought more people would watch you guys and then they would see the new group. It’s more publicity.”
Jonghyun frowned and turned up the volume. “That’s interesting. But I don’t remember a D.O. or a Kai in the trainees.”
“Oh those were the guys backstage then.” Taemin gulped a little nervously. “They can’t be better than us, can they?”
Shaking his head, the singer just dropped the remote on the table. “Come on Tae, no one can beat us.” But there was a sliver of doubt in his eyes.
“Ne, these two folks have been trainees for quite a while. They were supposed to debut much earlier, but were held back when f(x) debuted. After several months of all those teasers, we’re pleased to finally introduce the new duo of our company!” Tiffany exclaimed happily.
Seohyun smiled and held up her mic. “Everyone, please welcome D.O. and Kai!”
The music started with a soft melody and a melodic voice came from the shorter of the two boys. The lights were still dim, making it impossible to make out any distinguishing features.
A winding image of piano keys appeared on the screen and the taller of the two started to play the keys. Jaws dropped at how the two rookies seamlessly took over the vocal line and still kept in time with the music and animation behind them. This was something that would’ve taken months of practice.
Kai stepped forward and asked the audience, “Are you guys bored yet?”
There was no response as everyone’s jaws were dropped and even the MCs were a little shocked. SM hadn’t even told any of their artists about this duo.
D.O. gulped a little and adjusted his mic. “Ok, we’ll take that as a yes then. So here’s a song called Mama, hope you like it.”
The sound of a record being turned back echoed throughout the auditorium and a new song came on. And, if it was even possible, everyone’s jaws dropped about 5 more inches.
Keeping perfectly in time with the music and each other, Kai and D.O. were dancing around the stage while singing their hearts out into their microphones. They even added a couple adlibs to show that it was completely live.
The two had nervous grins, but they were also grins of excitement because their dreams were finally coming true.
One fangirl broke the silence “Debak.”
After that, the performance finished and the auditorium erupted into cheers.
Meanwhile in the break room, the two famous idols had frozen in shock the second they heard the voice and saw the dance. Jonghyun whispered, “That’s Kyungsoo.”
“And Jongin,” Taemin finally recognized his look-alike. “Wait they’re debuting?”
Onew threw a stack of programs in the air. “Yes they just did. Now, what is it I hear that you insulted those two backstage? All of the staff are gossiping about it and I heard a few phone calls. Do you two not care about your images?!?”
Jonghyun rubbed his eyes. “Sorry hyung. We’ll apologize right after the show.”
“Then hurry up. They’re announcing the winner soon” muttered Minho from the other couch trying to make sure nothing was uploaded online yet. “And try not to ruin your images any more. Now that we’re back, you have to be extra careful.”
Taemin sadly got up from the couch and followed his hyungs on stage. He edged towards where Kai was standing, but the younger just melted into the crowd and reappeared on the other side.
Noticing the expression on the other’s face, Jonghyun just squeezed his hand and gave him a reassuring smile. “We’ll talk to them right after this.”
Usually right before the winner was announced, the crowd would chant a few artists they thought were going to win. Jongtae usually rang through the crowd, but there was also a mix of kaisoo in that mix.
That was a little strange. Considering that the fans had come up with a new ship name 3 minutes after the performance. But they were fangirls. There’s nothing they couldn’t do.
Seohyun noticed the mini fanwars going on in the crowd and bit her lip. It wasn’t the best thing to have two groups from the same company pitted against each other. Gripping the envelope with the winners tightly in her hand, she hoped the winner was neither of the boys.
Grinning nervously for the cameras, Jonghyun waited for the announcement. Once it was made, he clapped as expected and pulled Taemin into the crowd in order for the cameras to lose them.
D.O.’s mouth dropped open as Tiffany handed him the glass trophy and gave him a hug. He felt a few tears threatening to spill and reached out to grab Kai into a hug. “Wow, gamshamida everyone for giving us an award on our first performance. Um thank you to SM for giving us the chance and all of our instructors and our parents.” He trailed off and grinned at Kai. “We did it Jongin.”
His friend was smiling, but there was something dangerous in his eyes. Tears traced their way down his face and he grabbed the mic. “Yes thank you everyone. And also thank you to our mentors telling us to never give up. We hope to remain humble and not let everything get to us and just concentrate on the music.” He turned and faced the direction where his old friends had disappeared. “Thank you for the advice, sunbaes.”
The two grinned and received all the congratulations from the fans and other artists once the cameras were turned off. Suho grinned and grabbed them all into a big hug. “Good job guys!”
“Yeah great job you two!” Onew ran by them and gave them a thumbs up. “By the way, have you seen Jonghyun or Taemin?”
Kai’s happy eyes hardened and he shook his head. “Sorry Onew hyung. Suho, can we go home now? I’m really tired.”
Nodding, Suho waved goodbye to his friend and ushered his idols towards the door.
“I think I saw them heading to the bathrooms,” whispered D.O. and he grinned sadly at the dubu manager before following his own manager.
Sighing, Onew ran towards the bathrooms to see Taemin having a panic attack and Jonghyun trying to comfort him, unsuccessfully.
The next morning, Key was struggling to stay awake as he had been the one to stay with Taemin until he fell asleep. He opened his computer and groaned at what was on the front page of Naver.
D.O. and Kai take over the Music Industry, Jonghyun and Taemin finished?
The rude behavior of Idols ft. Jonghyun and Taemin
Bad Relationship between everyone at SM?
Key closed the laptop and collapsed on the couch. “Aigoo.”
:P it's over keke. Anyways, it's the only thing that came to mind when I saw the prompts (along with a really long multi-chaptered fic that couldn't be finished in time) so yeah...
thanks for reading this pathetic story and now i'll go write my other stories...
*bows and leaves*
- chocolate-notes :)
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