“Who’s next?” inquired Younghun, his eyes scanning the remaining three. He glanced at Shin who was staring at Xue before turning his attention to Woojung, being sure to avoiding Sora’s prying eyes as he scanned over him, and finally turning to look at the male that was still holding his hand, “Come on guys…”

“I-I’ll go,” muttered Shin, clearly hesitating for a good minute.

“Listen, I know this is a topic we’re all rather uncomfortable talking about, that we all want our privacy and all, but it’s something we all kind of need to know,” stated Younghun, sensing the hesitance from the final three in the group, “For our relationships with each other to continue to grow stronger and for the fact that if it does magically get out there we all can be ready for it, we all can handle it well and support each other.”

The other five nodded, Sora and Xue didn’t admit it verbally but they did feel as though a weight had been lifted off their chest as they told their group mates of their pasts prior to entering the company, prior to entering the group. 

After other five-or-so minutes of silence, Shin spoke up again, “I was born in Busan…uh, I was pretty popular when I was younger. I started playing soccer when I was seven because my father wanted me to start playing it.  I-I ended up meeting with a leader of some dance crew and later ended up training with him. He let me join the crew when I was nine and he also began training me then, making it so that I could actually participate in competitions when I was in junior high. My father wasn’t to happy when I started to get really into hip hop music – into American rappers –  but he dealt with it since I continued to practice the piano and began to learn the guitar when I was ten. He became quiet displeased as I moved into senior high because I got more and more into rapping and break dancing, getting to the point where I started to neglect school. My parents got really angry over my grades slipping and told me that I had to keep my grades up if I wanted to keep performing, which is the reason I used to only sleep for about three hours a day. I was up so long because I was busy practicing both my music and sports because I-I didn’t want to give up either.”

The other members hummed in understanding, knowing that passion – that unwillingness to give something up.

“Anyhow, when I was fourteen…” Shin paused, trying to figure out how exactly to word what he was about to say. He had wanted to skip this part in his story, but he realized that the other members had shared something about their families as well; Younghun had shared the story of his mother, though the barely older male did not go as in depth. “When I was fourteen my father and I ended up in a car accident. I-I…My father was drunk and crashed the car. He passed away while I survive and…I-I should’ve taken his keys away…I shouldn’t have let him drive that night.”

Shin fell silent again as the memories resurfaced with the guilt, the sorrow. He smiled weakly as he felt a hand slip into his own, as he felt a gentle encouraging squeeze come from the magnae.

“I ended up giving up music or a while, not able to play the piano and guitar without thinking about my father. I ended up spending my days with the crew practicing until I ended up collapsing. I also wrote raps during that time and actually started rapping underground to get my pent up emotions out. It was around this time that the fight broke out after a soccer match. When I was sixteen, I ended up moving to Seoul with my mother and younger brother, Minho, who had gotten a scholarship to attend a school up there.”

Shin paused for a minute before recalling all the memories he had of the transfer, all the rumors that had circulated about him in the new school, “There were rumors circulating about me being a quick tempered brawler who had been expelled from three different schools with some big criminal record – complete bull.” The others nodded. “The reputation changed though as I joined the soccer team in my school and found new friends and eventually became the team’s captain. I found another crew and started to compete again under an old nickname from my former crew. I also started to make classic music again around that time. My last two years of senior high were good. Not too much happened after that except for the fact I started to train in Mixed Martial Arts to learn to control my temper.”

Younghun nodded in approval, smiling at Shin in thanks for sharing it with them – knowing just how much the barely-younger-male hated sharing stories of his past, knowing just how much the male hated speaking of his father. He understood the younger’s pain, not liking to speak about his mother as well. His attention soon turned to the duo who had been friends prior to entering Top Media, prior to Spectrum.

“Who’s next?” questioned Younghun, almost singing it prior to entering a rather harsh coughing fit that had the others looking at him in worry, “Hurry up and decide guys, I-I’d like to sleep soon.”

The duo that remained nodded in understanding and looked towards each other and after a game of rock-paper-scissors, Woojung let out a rather over-dramatic sigh and began to speak about himself, just like how the others had minutes before.

“I was born in Busan as well. I lost my parents when I was eleven to a car accident,” stated Woojung, pausing for a second to hide the fact it still hurt him a bit to speak about it – just as it had been hard for the others to speak about their parents whom they lost, “After that, I lived with my grandma and younger sister, who was a baby at the time we lost our parents. Our grandmother isn’t the kindest of people but she let us stay with her in exchange for both of us working hard to earn our keep. I took care of the household chores and worked countless part time jobs, hardly getting sleep each night. However, I was okay with working so much because it made it so that my sister could go out and play with her friends, made sure she was closer to having the perfect childhood. I moved up to Seoul when I was eighteen with the purpose of giving Soojung a better education.”

“I don’t understand why though because that girl is a little devil,” added Minhyun, earning a disapproving glare from Younghun and a chuckle from Woojung, who shook his head – used to Minhyun’s childish complaints about his sister.

“Once I moved to Seoul I decided that I wanted to rap and ended up going out for YG – dragging Minhyun to the audition with me,” stated Woojung in amusement, “We were both accepted into the company, though I don’t really know how Minhyun got in.” Minhyun scowled at the younger male and grabbed a pillow off the couch, pelting it his way.  “Anyhow, about half a year later, I ended up in a relationship with another trainee and a CEO found out about it and immediately forbid the two of us from seeing each other. Minhyun, being the idiot he is, caused a huge fuss that ended up with me being dropped from the company.”

“I ended up leaving before they could drop me,” stated Minhyun, “So, that was the reason only you were dropped.”

Woojung rolled his eyes and continued on anyways, ignoring the elder male, “We then reluctantly auditioned for Top Media and you all know where we ended up after that.”

“In a dumpster?” stated Sora, clearly playing on the younger 94-liner’s words with a smirk playing on his lips.

“Yes, we ended up in a dumpster,” deadpanned Minhyun, "A dumpster in which a monster named Sora lives." 

“Anyhow, you all already know of my past enemies, so I see no need to repeat that story,” stated Woojung, earning a nod from the others. 

Younghun turned to look at Minhyun, who was about to start an argument with Sora, “It’s your turn now Mr. Attitude.”

Minhyun, upon hearing what the leader had called him, removed his hand from the elder’s grasp and punched the man’s shoulder.

“I was born in Pyongyang. Yes, I’m from North Korea,” stated Minhyun, cutting off Sora – who had opened his mouth to comment on it. He looked around taking in the look of surprise from Xue, Sora, and Shin and the unreadable expression on the leader’s face. Minhyun suddenly felt somewhat self-conscious due to the leader’s expression, his eyes were cast downward – he could feel the mood darkening noticeably, “I never really knew my father, he was executed after being declared a traitor and conspirator. He was killed before my mother even knew she was pregnant with my younger sister, Yoohyun.  Terrified that the government would come for us, my mother took me and my sisters and fled the country and somehow – she hasn’t told us yet and refuses to ever speak about it – made it into South Korea. My mother’s brother and father were both killed as we tried to flee the country and my mom still has horrible scars on her back from the escape.”

Minhyun paused for a minute, though he had started out confidently, rather emotionlessly, he found it progressively becoming harder to speak of it – of the past he couldn’t remember due to his young age at the time.

“I…We were taken in as refugees and we were constantly moving when I was younger,” Minhyun dared to look up at the other members, kind of embarrassed – unsure of how his band mates would react upon hearing the story, knowing from the past that some people did not take to it very well.  “We ended up settling in Seoul when my mother finally met up with some of her distant relatives.”

“Meaning they are yours too,” muttered Younghun, trying to lighten the mood and successfully doing so as the others laughed and Minhyun scowled, glaring at the older – refusing to admit that he was relieved to see the leader so easy going about the subject after holding the unreadable expression just minutes before. 

Minhyun shook his head as the leader smile meekly his way before he finally continued with his story, “I ended up meeting that idiot over there.” He nodded towards Woojung. “He ended up dragging me to the audition. He also used the point that there was a chance for me to meet y idols to lure me into the audition as well.”

Younghun frowned at the youngest 93-er’s words, but not reacting too drastically due to being used to the younger’s antics – the younger’s excessively flirty personality.

“Anyhow, We ended up getting dropped from the company, well, Woojung was dropped, I quit after learning of the stupid dating ban,” stated Minhyun, “and we ended up here in Top Media.”

“Any enemies?” inquired Younghun, earning another glare from Minhyun.

“Yeah, there were a few trainees who cornered me in the bathroom and attacked me,” responded Minhyun, “I walked away with a busted lip and black eye, but they walked away with worse, so…I don’t really think they’ll be any problem.”

“Any exes?” added Younghun.

“No,” stated Minhyun, “I’ve had countless…flings, but no exes. If you haven’t noticed by now, I’m not really capable of holding down a stable relationship.”

Younghun shook his head and turned to look at the other members of the group, noting that they all seemed to be in better moods now – that they seemed to be more relaxed around each other.

“The only gossip-like stories they could really get from us from here on out are with Minhyun and you again, Woojung,” stated Younghun, “There really isn’t anything else interesting about the other four us – especially after they exploited that I come from a relatively rich family.”

“There is also the probability they could bring up the fact you smoked and drank underage,” stated Xue, “And that Woojung has enemies, they could bring up Woojung’s past.”

Younghun hummed, “They could.”

“They could also bring up the fact you fooled around with another male when you were drunk when you were younger,” chipped in Minhyun.

“Speaking of which, what were you during that time?” inquired Sora, “You appear to be able to go either way…well, not really in your present relationship, but you’re not exactly the most masculine of all the males in the world.”

Younghun stared at Sora, a scowl dressing his face as he repeated his previous response, “What the hell is wrong with you Sora? Why the hell are you so interested in it?”

“Well, Younghun-hyung,” stated Sora, “I may or may not have about twenty dollars on the line here in a bet.”

“Well, Sora,” stated Younghun, “This’ll teach you to bet on your groupmates affairs again, huh?”

Sora scowled at the leader as the male stood up from where he sat and stretched, glancing at the clock and yawning, “I’m going to bed…It’s been a long day.”

The others nodded in agreement.

“Don’t stay up too late, get some rest…” muttered Younghun, “I’m pretty sure we’ll all need it.”

The others hummed and watched as the elder walked off.

“Younghun!?” called Sora, “You’re really not going to tell?”

“It’s none of your damn business!” called Younghun as he passed through the threshold of the door, happily retiring to his room.

“Minhyun, do you know?”

Minhyun shook his head as he moved towards the kitchen, going to fetch one last glass of rum before heading off to bed – not in the mood to get drunk tonight.

Sora pouted and Woojung chuckled, “Sora, you should’ve betted like the rest of us, then you wouldn't have had to worry about your money, none of us would have." 

“Why didn’t you stop me?” whined Sora, feeling as though he was going to lose the bet to the other three, "Why didn't you convince me to vote like you all?" 

“I tried to, but you being the stubborn individual you are, did not listen – you told me that I was wrong and that I didn’t know what I was talking about, despite me knowing Minhyun better than you do,” stated Woojung, smiling towards the barely-older-94er, "You also told me that you weren't going to vote on the same thing as the rest of us, you wanted to be different."

Sora pouted at Woojung again before standing up and heading towards his room, “I’m going to go sulk now.”

Woojung followed the other 94er to their shared room, his laughter ringing through the villa’s halls.

Xue peered at Shin, who stood up and stretched before turning his attention to the magnae, holding his hand out to help the younger up.

“I guess that this is our cue to go to bed as well,” muttered Shin, earning a nod from the tired Xue, who had happily grasped the elder, thanking the man as he pulled him up onto his feet.

As the preparations for bed came to a close, Shin found himself on the same bed as Xue – the magnae had been persistent about lying on Shin, about cuddling with him and sleeping on the same bed as him. Shin, though he had disapproved of the younger’s actions and decisions at first, had come to like the warmth he got from the magnae – he had come to appreciate that the younger’s lithe form fit perfectly against his. As they lay in bed, Ha Joon had his head lying on the elder’s chest and found himself listening to the elder’s constant, steady heartbeat – his eyes steadily growing heavier as he listened to the calming thump. Though exhaustion started to take over the corners of his mind, Ha Joon fought to stay awake…fought to keep their conversation going – even as the clock chimed midnight.

“After speaking like that,” Ha Joon started prior to yawning, “I-I feel oddly relieved.”

Shin hummed in agreement, trying hard to keep himself awake, as the younger’s warmth began its attempt to lull him to sleep – nearly succeeding until the youngest spoke up again.

“I-I don’t know why, but it really just felt good,” muttered Ha Joon, “I-I guess it’s from where the weight about my past has been lifted off my chest and that we all finally broke probably one of the final barriers between the six of us…”

Shin hummed, fighting against the heaviness that hung on his eyelids.

“I-I feel like now that our histories are out there and we finally know almost everything there is to know about each other we will feel more natural around each other and keep us more open, make it so we are less afraid of coming to each other when there are problems,” muttered the youngest, again earning a nod from the older male.

“As much as I love talking with you, my body is begging me to go to sleep,” whispered Shin, “So…could we…”

Ha Joon blushed as he looked up to see the older half asleep, “Yeah, we can go to bed now.”

“I’m sorry, but I-I’m just too tired to stay up any longer,” whispered Shin, a bright smile playing on his lips.

“I love you hyung,” whispered Xue, cuddling even closer to his hyung.

“Love you too,” responded Shin, pressing a chaste kiss to the younger’s crown before finally succumbing to slumber.

In another room, Woojung smiled happily as Sora finally crawled into the bed, laying so that Woojung was behind him and so that the younger’s arm was draped comfortably over his waist. Woojung liking the warmth warm the elder emitted, curled closer to the older, not caring as their legs intertwined as he pressed his head into the older’s thinner shoulders, smiling into the fabric of the male’s shirt.

“You comfortable?” inquired Sora, one of his hands resting under his pillow while the other dropped lower for their fingers to intertwine with each other.

“Very,” muttered Woojung, his voice muffled by the older’s shoulder, “You’re very warm.”

Sora hummed and turned to face him, laughing as Woojung groaned as Sora’s elbow came in contact with his face.

“Th-That was painful,” grumbled Woojung.

“I’m sorry,” responded Sora with a bright smile as he leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss to the younger’s reddening cheek bone.

“It’s alright, just don’t do it again.”

“Maybe you should keep your head away from my arm next time…”

“Maybe you should warn your lover when you’re going to roll over next time,” responded Woojung, frowning towards his lover.

“Well, again, maybe you shouldn’t be so close.”

Woojung frowned and lightly flicked Sora in the forehead, shaking his head as he muttered, “Let’s just go to sleep, okay?”  

Sora nodded, smirking towards Woojung.  

Meanwhile, in the third bedroom, Minhyun crept into the room after finishing off his final drink of the night and getting ready for bed. He walked into the room to see the oldest member still awake and looking tiredly at his cell phone as he ended a call of some sort.

“Who was that?” inquired Minhyun, earning a glance from Younghun – who had his back towards the bathroom and towards the younger.

“Hyunsoo,” responded Younghun tiredly, “Why?”

Minhyun shrugged, “I was just curious, what did he want?”

“He wanted to make sure we were settling in alright, plus he was making sure I got all my medicine,” responded Younghun before yawning and turned his attention back towards his phone as he set it on the bedside table.

Minhyun, sensing how tired the elder was, quickly climbed into bed and shut off the light by his side of the bed, filing the room with darkness. After a few seconds of yawning, he whispered mockingly, “So, you weren’t always the dominate one in your past relationships?” 

I'm back and I'm terribly sorry for my failure to update this story in the past five months. I've had this chapter written since September, but apparently never actually posted it...So, yeah...sorry about that, but hey, you get a double update, that counts as something right? 

As I'm pretty sure I stated in one of my old ANs, my school year started up in mid-August and things got kind of hectic considering that I'm a senior (4th year in senior high/12th grade) in high school. I was busy in October with helping my father coach a soccer team and tons of homework, plus the ACT (which I rocked). Then in November, I had another story I was focusing on finishing (though progress was made it was never actually completed like originally planned) - that project (well, my goal to finish said story) continued into December. Plus, my grandmother on my mother's side passed away and my mother fell into depression for a bit becasue of her becoming an orphan.

In December, I was busy with family events and taking care of my ill cat (who I had had since I was four - a good thirteen years). In January, I had to focus on my first term exams and also into applying for college and scholarships and all that wonderful stuff. Also, all the clubs I am apart of in my school were all really active that month, plus, that was also a bad month because I lost a close friend - who was a few years older than me - to a car accident  and also last my baby (my cat previously mentioned) within two days of each other.

I had tried to keep positive and forced myself to write the story previously mentioned, but eventually just succumbed to the depression and quit writing - taking all of February off. Then earlier this month I started getting better and got the urge to write, but due to my sport (track & field) starting up I've just haven't had the chance to write anything until now. 

I'm sorry for my delay and my failure to post.