Swimming Shoot

“Okay,” Sunwoo let the syllables drag out a little longer than he normally would do, “Just how many groups are doing this shoot?”

Jongki looked up from his current task of trying to get a cramp out of Jin’s foot since the boy had decided for some reason to go and do several laps of the running court straight after dinner which had resulted in a cramp. He blinked at the youngster and shrugged, “Probably quite a few, why?”

“No reason,” the vocalist replied, “It just appeared to be getting really crowded in here was all.”

Smiling the leader went back to his previous task, aware that Sunwoo was probably just feeling a little out of sorts at the moment. With 2^nd C, the English subunit, off in the US, R-Star did appear to be a little out of sorts but it could honestly be a whole lot worse. Though secretly, Jongki was also missing the presence of the others, especially with trying to keep the young trouble makers inline. Sunwoo wasn’t actually being that bad, it was more Sang and Jin who were acting up for no other reason than presumably Jin was missing his twin and using Sang as a replacement. The puppy was being the puppy but Jongki knew that the other could look after himself and plus for distracting Saki he was amazing.

Actually now that he thought about it, where was that trouble making rat bag of a puppy right now?

“Anyone seen Kyung?” he asked, pushing back on Jin’s foot one last time to ensure that the cramp was gone and the others’ toes would stop doing their strange sticking out to the side thing which was a clear indication of cramp.

Sang did a quick sweep of the changing rooms, “Didn’t he say something about ice cream?”

“Oh please no,” Sunwoo said, standing up, “That’s the last thing we need right now.”

“Oh chill out,” Sang rolled his eyes, “Kyung hyung don’t like ice cream cause it’s counted as being the in the sweet category. He’s probably gone to the loo or something.”

“Or,” Jin said, standing up gingerly to test his foot, “He’s gone to see his bestie.” There was a slight tone to his voice that almost had Jongki frowning but the thought was gone through his head when he clocked his dancer talking on to another young boy who looked strikingly similar but just with short black hair. It took him a second longer to recognise Kyuso from Little Fire, one of the groups who were obviously working on the shoot today, and a grin crossed his features.

Little Fire were one of their brother groups who debuted a month before their rebirth and surprisingly the groups got on really well. It wasn’t just a thing for the fans either, Little Fire had been more than happy to help R-Star adjust to H/UN after the transition and there always seemed to be one of them somewhere around if they needed any help. This was quite strange given that there were only six of them but their age range was quite different. Their leader was Sun, a bright young man who sang with a much deeper voice than anyone would guess at first appearance and it was rare to see him without a smile on his face. Then there was Kyuso the dancer and best friend of Kyung, Hyun the drummer, Moon the guitarist (and unofficial Umma of the group), Tae-hyun the visual and Bae the maknae who looked way too young to be on the stage but was nearly eighteen.

He heard a familiar chuckle behind him, “Yeah, Kyuso clocked him this time so one of us is going to get stuck with them pair of them being hyper.”

Jongki grinned up at Sun, “You can have the puppy for a bit, I get enough of him in the day job.”

Sun smiled, leaning against the nearest wall, “You haven’t seen Kyuso in full swing. At least Kyung hyung has an excuse to be the way he is, mines just an aggravating little sod.”

For a second, Jongki felt inclined to comment about the nightmares that Kyung had but kept his mouth shut. That was information that didn’t need to get out into the general populace and plus he didn’t think the other would appreciate information like that getting told. His ADHD was public knowledge; he never tried to hide it or explain it away as anything else and even carried an SOS bracelet just in case something went amiss with his medicine. They had gotten him a necklace but he just clawed at it all day and night so that idea was quickly dropped.

There came a yelp, followed by a yell and then the sound of pounding feet and a groan escaped from Sun, “Be right back.”

Jongki chuckled, shaking his head as he just caught the tail end of Kyuso and Kyung running like mad from Hyun which was probably not a good idea with a swimming pool being so close by but he would let Sun deal with it as the puppy was just a follower in this case. Plus he had a sneaking suspicion that his boys were itching to get moving. “Come on then,” he said, sighing and shaking his head, “Let’s go and see what this is all about then.”

Sang was off running ahead of the group with Sunwoo yelling after him but so not chasing after him even though he secretly was and Jin fell into easy pace next to him. The leisure facility they were promoting was brand new and there had been a whole buzz about it being the largest indoor water park this side of Seoul and everyone wanted to get in on the exclusive first go shoot. Even Saki had been jealous of her Oppas getting ‘first play’ as she put it and despite the fact that they had gotten her on the exclusive VIP list for the official opening not two hours after their finished shoot, she was still jealous as everything. She had even tried to hide herself in one of their bags to try and get in before everyone else. She probably would have gotten away with it too if the weight difference hadn’t been so noticeable.

There were so many photos of that that Jongki was pretty sure the others were going to have trouble downloading them when they got a free slot in their schedule which was more hectic than usual apparently. The last time the group had managed to Skype each other had been about a week ago and it had only been a quick five minute update because there had been a series of unfortunate events in regards to travel and the four who were away were showing the signs of being exhausted. They were all still alive though and postcards were getting through the mail which was great fun, Saki had the most naturally but her little happy face made up for it in so many ways, and had promised to get in contact sometime this week.

If they didn’t get swamped by X-Factor nuts of course, whatever that meant Jongki reflected.

Stepping out of the changing rooms, all thoughts of the others were driven completely out of his head when his eyes fell on the leisure complex. The place was huge, he had expected that but it was filled with slides that seemed to intertwine around one another and there was a large wave pool and a lazy river and some wondrous decorations and this was only one side of the huge aquatic theme park. The outer section wouldn’t be opened until later in the year but if this was the winter version then Jongki couldn’t wait for it. “Wow,” he expressed, blinking in surprise, “No wonder everyone was jealous.”

“You’re telling me,” Jin grinned, “Twinny is going to fuming when he gets the pictures of this.”

Jongki nodded and was about to comment on the other’s slightly odd love of water parks when he really had a thing against large bodies of water, but was suddenly tackle-hugged by the ever errant puppy and only just managed to stay upright. “Hyung!” Kyung said, clearly about to go into complete hyperactive mode, “Tell Hyun to stop chasing me! I’m not the one who did anything.”

Glancing at Little Fire, the leader of R-Star saw Sun separating Hyun and Kyuso who were in the middle of a tickle war and smirked a little, “I think you’re okay puppy. Now come over here and sit down for five minutes will you?”

“Why?” the puppy was virtually hopping around like a rabbit and had that look which said someone was going to end up in trouble.

Suppressing a groan, Jongki grabbed hold of the other and pulled him to sit down on a nearby chair, “Because you need to calm down.”

“But I’m perfectly...” Kyung started before Octo-Kitty landed in his lap and he grabbed it with glee.

Sang grinned, “I snatched it before we left. Got the feeling that we would be needing it today.”

“But he’s been taking his meds and dancing,” Sunwoo frowned, “he should be absolutely fine.”

Jin silently shook his head, “Oh Sunshine, you forget that our resident puppy here hasn’t been getting much sleep as of late and it’s sending him up the wall.”

“Ah that explains why you’re so crabby too then,” Jongki chimed in with a half-hearted smile towards the other, knowing that if one of the pair was up and about pretty much constantly then the other would more than likely follow suit. Oh he really wished that Bradley had left his sleepy drink recipe as both boys were probably close to collapse.

“Afternoon hyung’s,” another voice cut into the conversation and the group turned to see a young boy with jet black hair styled quite rebel with some red streaks in it with a bright smile on his face which contrasted with the semi gothic look that he had been assigned. The blue eyes twinkled in that familiar way and even with the different coloured hair it was way too easy to see that the boy was related to Bradley. Though as had been discovered, voicing that the younger brother looked like the older was a sure way to get shot down by both of them equally. Gregory Eun, or Greg as everyone called him (or Gion as was his stage name which made Bradley laugh and in return for the constant short jokes that got directed at him) looked like a much younger and taller version of Bradley so even if they had tried to hide the fact that they were brothers then they probably wouldn’t have succeeded all that much.

“Hi Greg,” virtually everyone chorused together, even though they usually didn’t do such things which earned a few funny looks from the other members of ‘Yellow Crew’ but they let it slide knowing that it was the typical antics between Greg and R-Star.

Looking a bit bemused, Greg frowned for a second or two but then grinned and handed over a package, “Brad sent this to me; I think he got a little mixed up. Guessed it was for you guys,” there was a yell from Maxi telling Gion to move his and the boy rolled his eyes, “Looks like we’re up. Catch you later.”

Jongki looked at the package and was tempted to open it but knew that maybe it was not the best idea as the photographers were starting to call for positions and everyone had to get a move on. Kuso took the package and promised to keep it safe until they got home though everyone was really curious as to what had been sent.