pandemonium

The day had been uneventful after all the arrivals were over and done with - or as uneventful as one could get with six dynamic boys who either couldn't stop nitpicking or trying to initiate skinship with one another. With no one else to expect, the boys hardly knew what to do with themselves in the luxurious apartment besides do what guys do; nothing but laze around and be lazy. They had tried to get to know each other a little better of course (mostly Taechul and Kyugeum while everyone else just waited around for someone to come to them), which had been met with some obstacles at first as Jinsung was in a grumpy mood and Sangjeon was being avoidant, but the others had managed to get something resembling a conversation going after a few false starts. After realizing that Jinsung hardly spoke any English, the others had done their best to accommodate his language barrier, especially Taechul and Haneul. Those two were certainly both fluent in the language and could converse much easier than the others, but it didn't stop Haeyeon and Kyugeum from trying their best to at least introduce themselves to the American; respectively, "H-Hello... Uhm... H-How are you...? and "Uh mah gaud, I lub chu~! Ayooo~!" Safe to say, Jinsung was not very impressed with either of them.

For lunch, which they had soon after Jinsung had arrived and everyone was relatively calmed down from his blushing fit of trying to already attack Taechul (only confirming Kyugeum's suspicions that indeed, he was a "scary hyung"), Dojung had kindly ordered and paid for a very large feast, something that made some of the members' eyes widen in unexpected happiness. However, he had been acting strange when they tried to thank him - smiling like he held the many secrets that the boys wouldn't enjoy finding out about sooner or later. When asked why he looked so smug, he merely chuckled languidly and told them in an amused voice to enjoy their favorite foods while they could. Just his light-hearted words had left an unsettled feeling with the boys as they worried what he could possibly mean, some more than others, but Taechul had taken control afterwards and directed the conversation, making every member talk a little bit about themselves - even if they didn't want to.

“My name is Kyugeum, as you all know! But it's Kyugeummie to all! Kyugeummie~” Kyugeum, who was casually leaning on Haneul's shoulder as he munched on his food, excitedly called out even before Taechul had even finished talking. To say that his speech patterns were confusing as he sometimes shouted and sometimes mumbled was an understatement;, he never seemed to speak at the appropriate level for the appropriate situation, though definitely not purposely either by the brilliant million-watt grin that lit up his entire counterance. “I like it when people call me oppa~ So instead of calling me hyung, you should call me oppa, okay? It's cute, I like it!” he nearly shouted out specifically right into Haneul's ear, said person who now had a twisted expression of half-horror and confusion by the request written all over his munching face.

“Wh-What? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. You're a guy, why would I call you oppa? That's just rude, you know,” he bit back but without as much malice as he would have directed towards a certain person sitting around the table with them who was shoving his face full of food, seeming a little flustered and surprised instead by the affection the older male was paying him. In an attempt to save face and prevent the slightly older male from piping up again and completely ruining his trail of thought, he introduced himself next. “Okay, moving on. I'm Kang Haneul, I was born and raised in England,” he quickly spoke, leaning his head to the side and unintentionally resting it on Kyugeum's, which was still firm on his shoulder. Considering that they had just seen him speak so sharply to the luckily still oblivious Kyugeum, the others were quite surprised by the blatant skinship that seemed to some so natural to the two - really, it was like that they had knew each other for years than just a few hours, but no one dared to comment on it, more like just exchanged questioning gazes with one another before looking back at the pair. They wouldn't have known the reasons the two seemed to be so affection hungry, and it wasn't really their place to discuss it anyways on their first lunch together.

No one else volunteered after Haneul, opting instead to just stare at each other and wait for someone to speak up - or be shoving their face full of food during the meantime instead. So after a few minutes of awkward silence, Taechul happily volunteered himself to speak with a quiet chuckle and gallantly wiping his mouth with a napkin before clearing his throat, “Well, I'm Byun Taechul as all of you know too~ Though you can call me hyung,” he accentuated in what he would consider a sensually pleasing voice with a bit of aegyo added in as a measure of sociability, causing Jinsung next to him to make a face of mild embarrassed disgust as if he was ashamed on Taechul's behalf. That only earned a laugh from Taechul along with a sly grin before he continued, “I hope you guys are all clean, or else you'll suffer my own personal brand of punishment, the snuggle fest~” he winked conspiratively before grasping Jinsung's hand, switching over the English to cheerfully ask him to go next.

Amid much grumbling and his desperate attempts to wrench his hand out of Taechul's long fingers that were now securely wrapped around his small ones, Jinsung eventually had to give in - how embarrassing was it when everyone was literally staring at him? So with a dejected sigh, he introduced himself simply in broken and stumbling Korean, “My name is Jinsung. I am... From America,” before blushing even harder than he had done ever since he came to Korea, wishing nothing more than to simply crawl under the floor and hide there forever because of his horrible speaking skills. But no, he couldn't exactly do that when Taechul had his fingers intertwined with his own and when the floor was surely too hard for him to even pull up, so Jinsung simply pulled his hood down over his face as he sunk deeper into his chair, jamming a piece of pizza into his mouth while the others scrambled to correct the awkward situation.

“Uhm... Nice... To meet you, Jinsung. Hope we can... Be friends,” Haeyeon quietly coughed before offering himself in equally broken English, smiling reassuringly at Jinsung, who hid that smile threatening to twitch onto his face by simply shoving more pizza into his mouth as greedily as possible. Though he certainly appreciated that they were trying to make him feel included, there was no way in hell that Jinsung wouldn't admit it out loud, especially when Taechul was rubbing his back gently, silently reassuring the quiet boy despite the fact that Jinsung shot him an icy glare the moment that massive hand made contact with his delicate back. After his horrible but kind-hearted attempt at English, Haeyeon continued on to introduce himself, grinning sheepishly and faintly like a shy little boy, “I'm... Nam Haeyeon... Er... I'm twenty...” he trailed off awkwardly, looking around nervously as he tried to think of something else to say and as he waited for the others to laugh at him. Instead, they didn't, most of them giving kind smiles and nods as he settled instead with a “I'm sorry...” staring down at his hands in his lap to signal that they were only going to get that much out of him right now.

So, the only member left to introduce himself was Sangjeon, who could have cared less to even be listening to anyone (he actually wasn't). All eyes were now turned to the boy who was eating spicy ddukbokki with a smug, disinterested look on his face, eyes gazing intently only at the food in front of him and no one else - because of course, they weren't worthy of his attention. “Sangjeon-ah?” Taechul prodded curiously after a few moments of intense staring from everyone at him, which got nothing but absolute and eerie silence as they waited for even something to be said. Then, after a seemingly arduous time of deliberate stalling, Sangjeon finally glanced up with narrowed eyes and wiped a bit of the sauce off his lip.

“What?” he mumbled out around a mouthful, not bothering to mind his manners at all even as Haneul grimaced in disgust and rolled his eyes at him. A distance away from the boys as he sat on one of the stools around the kitchen stool instead of with the boys around the table, Dojung quietly watched curiously as he picked at his food, more interested in watching their interactions as his keen eyes trained to pick up even the slightest of nuances as they arose - it was his job as the manager to do so, to know every single one of them as if they were his family.

Blinking, completely unfazed by Sangjeon's rudeness, Taechul smiled politely again before firing back a question cheerfully, “Aren't you going to introduce yourself too?”

At the question, Sangjeon couldn't help but laugh in surprise, raising an eyebrow and looking at the tallest member incredulously, “What? Why would I?”

From the very moment he stepped through that cursed door and through the few hours that they have known each other, Haneul had been trying not to dislike the owner of the apartment - really, he geniunely had tried his best. But it was hard when the guy was so damn stubborn and bratty and self-righteous - the exact type of people that he hated the most in the world as he scowled at the older male and snapped out with irritation creeping into his tone, “We're just trying to be friendly.” What he couldn't stand even more was just how selfish Sangjeon was, among other less appropriate things he was screaming at the brat in his head, and how he refused to be a team player at all.

Instantly, Sangjeon scoffed in disbelief, seemingly amused at the thought as a little twisted smirk curled up one of the edges of his lips, “Why would I be friendly with you guys? It's not like this group is going to last forever, and when we do disband, you're all going to go back to your own little worlds, and I'll go back to mine,” he retorted back with a lazy tone, his voice light with amusement though his words were heavy with cynicism, complete with burning eyes of hell at Haneul. Oh, how if looks could just kill.

On on the other side of the table, Haeyeon, so startled by the words, reacted almost immediately as he immediately opened his mouth to blurt out, “I won't-” And then he stopped himself, turning a faint shade of red that flushed across his face when Sangjeon's sharp eyes snapped up to meet Haeyeon's, one eyebrow arched in open curiosity and what looked like hostility to the larger male. At that misinterpreted sight, Haeyeon attempted to swallow his nervousness, unable to feel anything but being an idiot, and a silly one for even babbling something like that without any thought to his words. “I mean... S-Sorry... I meant to say that... If we were friends, I wouldn't just... Leave,” he whispered the last word almost to himself, the word barely audible around the table as he was unable to look up and see Sangjeon's reaction to his words. What he didn't want to see was the dislike or the disbelief that he was expecting to be written all over everyone's face, especially that of Sangjeon's, though if he had looked up, he would have seen a splash of crimson momentarily stain the cheeks of the very person he was so fearful about currently.

Totally caught off guard by such a genuine and gentle answer from the one person he was trying not to get into his head too much, Sangjeon coughed awkwardly before mumbling, “Ah, w-well,” he stumbled over his own tongue before inwardly cursing himself, and pushing on, “I'm Choi Sangjeon. I am... Was.... Am an actor. I doubt any of you guys watch dramas though-"

“I do,” Taechul suddenly interrupted, grinning from ear to ear. “I have little siblings. They're big fans, especially my sister. She can probably list all of the dramas and movies that you've been in, anddd... I believe she might just be in fangirl heaven if she got your autograph too,” he chuckled at the end, winking playfully at the younger male to accent his request to the younger male.

Sangjeon took a moment to overcome his surprise, once again thrown off-balance from the sheer pleasure that everyone was having from wanting to know him, but after a moment, he smiled lightly. “Are they?” he asked softly with a bit of wistful tone coloring his normally steely words, hiding his delight by snatching a hot-wing from the center of the table. "Maybe... Later then," the pleasure of knowing his fans being something that he would rather still hide from everyone still currently.

Therefore, with introductions formally over (much to the relief of most of them), lunch ended quietly with the boys having small conversations in between eating their fill. Taechul tried to have a conversation with each and every member about their likes and dislikes, hoping he could foster conversations between them, some succeeding way too much (in the case of Kyugeum where one question had the the boy rambling on about penguins for about five minutes), but never failing. Even Jinsung, who had it in his best interest of himself to not ever fall again to the older male's wily and persuasive techniques, somehow found himself telling Taechul about the instruments that he played... Before his lips fastened shut when the topic strayed dangerously close to events that led him to come to Korea. Luckily, immediately as he sensed that they were headed into rocky territory that shouldn't be exposed on the initial meeting, Taechul respectfully moved on to interrogate another member, offering Jinsung a small and warm welcome smile.

However for the most part, they went about their day in separation after the lunch (leaving most of it to Taechul to clean up with Haeyeon trailing after and doing what he could too), simply trying to work around the awkwardness and tension they felt - whether that was just wandering around the place aimlessly only to bump with others doing the exact same thing or camping out in the corner to avoid the shambling numbers of boys just walking around like zombies. Somehow, among just doing simply "nothing" as guys usually do, dinner time rolled around fairly quickly, only to have the doorbell suddenly ring and jolt them all out of their catatonic states. "Were you expecting someone?" Taechul asked Sangjeon with slightly widened eyes, only to get a confused and slightly irritated response from the boy as he stuck his head out of his room and huffed his way downstairs.

"Do I look like I'd be expecting someone?" Curious as the doorbell kept impatiently ringing, the boys huddled around for a few seconds before taking the majority vote to surround the door and then swung it open, not sure what to expect. What they certainly didn't expect was a sweet looking old lady who was sporting what could be described as an extremely aristocratic and proud expression across her well-aged face with an adorable and tiny snow-white Pomeranian blinking in surprise at the boys staring at both of them.

"Are you lost, ahjumma?" As if as like magic, Sangjeon's bad attitude dropped in an instant and he was back to his "mother's-friends-son" personality, where he charmed women like the way a snake charmer could mesmerize snakes - maybe even easier if he truly wanted to. The older woman, however, didn't seem to be buying it at all as she shifted the tiny dog from one arm to another.

"Haeyeon-sonja? Is Nam Haeyeon here?" she called out sharply, her voice was gruff despite her sweet, angelic features. And as if in a daze of confusion, Haeyeon shuffled forward, keeping his head down slightly as to hide the confusion and fear flashing in his eyes from the other members.

"Halmeoni...?" was all he cautiously asked before as if it had been touched, the puppy yipped in pure delight and immediately began wiggling around impatiently, perfectly black eyes beadily sparkling with joy at seeing Haeyeon. So without another second wasted, the little old woman handed the dog to Haeyeon - which instantly jumped into Haeyeon's waiting arms, even as he awkwardly attempted to protest even with a growing and fond smile across his face. "Mayumi, oh.... Sorry, oh no," as if for the first time, Haeyeon remembered he had a puppy, now trying to wipe off the grin and replace it with a sheepish ones as he glanced around at all the boys staring in envied awe at the miniature pure white puppy.

"I'm not keeping her any longer, Haeyeon-sonja," the little woman efficiently clipped her words and readjusted her dress, before abruptly leaving the property without hardly another word - if the others hadn't been so now involved with cooing over the puppy that wanted nothing to do with them and everything to do with Haeyeon, they might have noticed the expression of relief that graced his face as he watched his little old grandmother descend the stairs with a vigor of someone half her age. It was only when Haeyeon began to back away from the door that the boys then reluctantly tore their eyes away from the puppy to stare at the stammering Haeyeon as he desperately tried to apologize for his intrusion on Sangjeon's house, but almost immediately afterwards, Sangjeon reluctantly sighed before closing the door and crossing his arms.

"It's fine, I like dogs. You can keep her, I don't mind," Sangjeon knew It was a lie as he spoke those words, but the look of grateful relief and all those murmured "thank yous" coming from the older male was enough to solidify the thought subconsciously in Sangjeon's mind that he didn't want Haeyeon to be any more upset. And that was how the boys of Pandemonium ended up with a very cute Pomeranian puppy living with them in their dorm, who... Ended up being more than what they expected. For one, they attempted to play with the dog as Haeyeon settled on the couch with her in his arms, telling the rest of the members about Mayumi; about how he had gotten her actually six months earlier and how she was fully housed trained, so there was no need for Sangjeon to worry (who actually had been secretly worrying about that before Haeyeon settled his rising question). But as Jinsung nearly learned the hard way, there was no way one could judge a dog by its cute looks - especially one that nearly bit off his fingers when he tried to touch her. It was no fair of course, considering that he indignantly knew that animals liked him and he liked cats and dogs, but Mayumi had eyes only for Haeyeon. And once she had bared her tiny white canines at Jinsung (that they couldn't help looked so damn cute anyways still), none of the other members were willing to offer their fingers towards her either, not even when Haeyeon was stuttering his ways through apologies and the fact that he hadn't realized that she would be so damn vicious with anyone that wasn't him or his grandmother because he had never brought her outside to meet anyone else besides the veterinarian.

So amid much dejected sighs and grumbles from Jinsung, who got involuntarily comforted by Taechul once again, they eventually drifted off once more. Each of them ate their leftovers separately for dinner in their respective corners, whether that be on the balcony, on one of the sofas with a tiny dog that was curled up and looked like a poofy pillow, on one of the kitchen counters, in a room and even the closet and the bathroom, which only further served to enhance the tension-filled and awkward silence amid them. Taechul was the most worried about this; he wanted the group to bond, not be as awkward as hormonal teenagers around each other (though he thought some of them might be late-bloomers even), but he figured he had to give it some time before it would begin.

They had been trying to put it off for as long as possible, honestly. It wasn't as though they dreaded picking their sleeping arrangements - everyone aside from Haneul and Sangjeon got along well enough to be civil - but it didn't mean things weren't still a little awkward, or really awkward actually. “Should we draw lots?” Taechul had eventually suggested as the night was winding down and silence was settling in, most of them beginning to slowly open up to one another, now with one of the members completely grounded with his puppy in his lap instead as she continued to doze on.

Kyugeum glanced up from his conversation with Haneul (and by conversation, that really meant more like he was chattering away while Haneul watched television) and with wide and cutely innocent eyes, asked with a child-like curiosity, “Draw lots? Like in the lottery? Do we get money? Candy? Penguins?” as if he didn't quite understand what Taechul was suggesting. Of course, he had been pretty enthusiastic about how well speaking with Haneul was going since he had managed to score another 'bbfies forever' as he considered all of them, so he had naturally been ignoring the events around them because Haneul really was just so much more fascinating than anything else here - even Mayumi didn't come close to how cute Haneul was to him.

Next to him, Haneul resisted the urge to facepalm before shooting him a mildly annoyed look that hardly held any malice at all before huffing out questions back, “No, for our rooms. You don't listen very well, do you?”And completely unlike Sangjeon (who was currently putting himself into solitary confinement away from everyone else), Kyugeum simply blinked innocently over at him while seeming momentarily stunned, before he grinned his sunbursting smile and pinched Haneul's cheek to snuggle closer to the shorter boy.

“Oh you're so cute,” he squeaked out in a shrilly cute manner as he wrapped Haneul's arm around his shoulders, leaning in even closer with absolutely no concept of personal space - not that Haneul really minded anyways. Because despite Haneul's grumbled protests, the maknae was actually enjoying the skinship not only because he enjoyed skinship in general, but because there was just something irresistible about Kyugeum was making him much more placid than usual at the moment. Sitting on the couch adjacent to them, Taechul silently watched them from the corner of his eye while pretending to continue watching the tv show, trying to bite back the grin that was threatening to form on his face. He didn't want to give himself away, not when he could notice something very interesting happening with how things were going with between Haneul and Kyugeum. Instead, he focused on the small grumbling noises that would sometimes issue from the boy who had recently (unintentionally) claimed his lap as a pillow.

It was because Jinsung had been drifting off for hours, curled up uncomfortably on the couch next to Taechul when he was trying in his hardest vain to avoid contact with the grinning older male. But of course, that was impossible on a loveseat sofa, and after he had eventually slipped into sleep, Taechul was kind enough to gently move Jinsung's head down to his lap and into a laying position. It was all for his best interests in mind, as Taechul simply wanted the sleepy boy to be comfortable; sleeping in that awkward and awful position would only result in Jinsung waking up with a sore back. Plus, what was more important was that he couldn't deny that the panda-eyed young man looked incredibly cute when he slept; his eyebrows occasionally furrowing into a precious little scowl every few minutes as what sounded and seemed like disturbing or bad dreams were plaguing Jinsung. Every time that would happen, Taechul would just run his fingers gently through the sleeping male's soft hair whenever he looked troubled and started mumbling gibberish quietly, chuckling softly and smiling when the upset face slowly dissipated back into a much more gentle and peaceful one that suited his fragile looking countenance.

Sangjeon on the other hand didn't really want to hang around the others or really do anything with any of them, never lingering in their presence for more than ten minutes without wandering off, and especially never joining their conversations. He would watch them speak with eyes that held no warmth; unwelcoming orbs that held years of built up distrust and fears from experience. Sangjeon was more than sure that he didn't need friends particularly. So currently, instead of watching television with the others, he was cleaning the dishes that had accumulated over the course of the day - no, he didn't really enjoy washing dishes (or doing any sorts of chores for that matter), but at least it gave him something to do aside from awkwardly sit and ignore the others as he was already doing for most of the day... His plan seeming to work well to perfection until Haeyeon joined him after Mayumi had truly passed out into a deep sleep (evident when she was literally sprawled out on her back), quietly slipping away from the other four as he couldn't help but feel bad that they had made all those dishes and left them for the scrawny male.

So when Haeyeon reached across Sangjeon to grab the dish towel on his other side, he badly startled the orange headed male who hadn't heard him approach so terribly that what sounded like an unmanly squeak slipped out from Sangjeon. Needless to say, the bowl Sangjeon had been holding flew out of his hands and landed with a big splash in the dishwater, effectively soaking the two from the waist up and as a bittersweet mention, probably effectively distracted Haeyeon from the fact that Sangjeon had just made such an unmasculine sound.

Blinking for a few second from the initial shock of the water, Haeyeon then quickly recovered himself before apologizing hurriedly, “I'm sorry!” Sangjeon turning to stare at him with wide eyes, still completely stunned. “I d-didn't mean to startle you. I just... I didn't... We created the dishes so... I wanted to help.” Haeyeon's mouth was moving, but his words went in one ear and out the other for Sangjeon, who was much more interested in inspecting what the water on Haeyeon's white shirt had revealed. He supposed it was lucky for him that Haeyeon had managed to strip off the rest of the clothes during the day, leaving him in only a nicely fitting and now nearly translucent white shirt that had the faint imprints of the tattoos that decorated Haeyeon's upper chest area and on his shoulders pressed behind the fabric. “Hyung,” his mouth was suddenly dry as Sangjeon had to swallow and clear his throat before he could continue, “You have tattoos.” Before either of them could realize what was happening since it was in the span of just a few quick seconds, he had reached out and traced a finger across the words on Haeyeon's collar area, a devious little grin forming across his lips. “Show me?” he asked in what he hoped was a seemingly innocent manner, cocking his head and smiling sweetly in a way that he hadn't done all day for anyone else besides now. On the other end, Haeyeon was so surprised by the sudden request that he simply stumbled over his words, most of them unintelligable.

At his hesitation that only offered more opportunities for Sangjeon to keep staring at those tattoos, the younger male huffed quietly before grumbling, “What? It's nothing weird,” he lied, “I just like tattoos. I want to see what it looks like.” And so, awkwardly like he had truly never done it before, Haeyeon couldn't help a light pink dust his cheeks as he slowly pulled the front of his shirt down just enough to be able to read those inked words on his chest, completely inviting Sangjeon to lean in to eye the tattoo and secretly inspected Haeyeon's deliciously jutting collarbones. What they didn't expect though was for Sangjeon's hot breath to tickle Haeyeon's chest, which as if he was splashed with cold water again, caused Haeyeon to pull away awkwardly and rearrange his wet shirt as if none of that had ever happened.

“S-sorry, I just...” the older male tried to explain himself before he completely lost his voice and scurried away to save what little face he could, leaving Sangjeon glaring at his retreating figure. Why. Why was it that karma or whoever up there decided to curse him with the irony of one of the hottest bodies he had ever seen with a personality so awkward that it was actually endearing in some odd way. Why.

“Ayooo~ Are you guys ready to pick rooms?” Kyugeum called out piercingly in his unnaturally loud voice currently as he skipped over, oblivious to what had been happening only moments before. Taechul would have loved to jump up and ruin the moment himself since he had the perfect vantage view the watch what was unfolding there, but he would rather let the sleeping boy stay comfortable in his lap and thus asked Kyugeum to gather the rogue members instead. Sangjeon simply shrugged in resignation and did as the blonde male trilled out the instructions that Taechul had given him, grabbing paper, a cup, and two different colored markers from a drawer.

“Rip the paper up into six pieces,” Taechul instructed smoothly once all the members were in some way around the couches and paying attention to him, “And then on two slips, draw a blue line. On two other pieces, draw a red line. Understand?” he asked kindly, though earning a little annoying glare from Sangjeon who mumbled indignantly that he wasn't a complete moron. And with the lack of grace that befit him, Kyugeum plopped down in a flurry of motion next to Sangjeon after trying to crawl over the back of the couch and began helping the younger male tear up the paper, much to the continued annoyance of Sangjeon who just kept mumbling that he could this himself too. In a few short moments, they shoved the papers into the cup with Kyugeum beaming proudly at his good work, and offered the pick to everyone with Taechul as the last one, who pulled out a blue marked paper and placed the last blank one on Jinsung's sleeping head.

Dojung simply smirked as the boys, particularly Haneul and Sangjeon, stared awkwardly at their slips of paper, most of them trying to look at everyone's else for what their pick were too. All Dojung really regretted at the moment was that he wasn't going to be able to stay much later and see how this panned out, seeing as Sangjeon and Haneul were both holding red marked strips of paper.

“Can we trade?” Haneul asked instantly to the entire room as his eyes widened in horror at the identical color on Sangjeon's paper, as Taechul wrapped an arm around Haeyeon's shoulders with a huge grin after the younger male had bashfully showed a blue marked piece of paper.

“Hey, roomie! We're going to have so much fun together!” he asserted cheerfully with a wide grin, practically bubbling with excitement as he carefully slid out from underneath Jinsung to only replace his lap with an actual pillow. Then before Haeyeon even had an opportunity to protest or say anything for that matter, Taechul was already leading him upstairs to the room he had picked out for himself earlier. Kyugeum, meanwhile, stared at Jinsung uncomfortably as the older male yawned sleepily and batted away the paper without a care in the world, rubbing his eyes at the bright lights and cursing in English immediately afterwards, making Kyugeum not exactly thrilled about sleeping in a room with Jinsung because, well, he was a bit scary - or actually, really scary. So with an awkward cough and a small shuffle of his feet, Kyugeum trailed away nervously after Haeyeon, hell bent on asking the hyung if he could sleep with him instead because really, Haeyeon was probably one of the only people here who didn't scare him besides Haneul.

“Appa hyung~!” he suddenly purred cutely, latching himself tightly like a koala onto the unsuspecting Haeyeon's muscular arm, causing the older male to turn and stare at him curiously with blinking eyes. “I'm a little afraid of Jinsung hyung, he might eat me in my sleeeppp... Can we sleep together instead?” he asked softly, a sweet little pout forming on his lips as he gazed up at Haeyeon with naturally aegyo imbued eyes.

To be honest, Haeyeon couldn't have said no even if he wanted to, and just watching Kyugeum at the moment was breaking his heart at the thought of what could happen if he was left with Jinsung...“Um, sure,” Haeyeon mumbled out as he turned to Taechul, unsure of what to say to the hyung. “Um, Kyugeum is...”

Almost instantly, Taechul had already wrapped an arm around Kyugeum's shoulders, grinning even more broadly with a mischevious sparkle in his dark eyes, “That's okay, I'll gladly share a room with Jinsunggie, have fun tonight you two~” he cheerfully replied before patting the two on the back and turned to bound back down the stairs to help Jinsung, who was falling back asleep in the recliner. “Jinsunggie,” he cooed out sweetly as he tapped the boy on the cheek to wake him, dodging the swat aimed at him by the boy who remained otherwise dead to the world. Taechul's playful grin then melted into a kind smile towards Jinsung, who scowled so deeply in his sleep that it was a bit hard for Taechul to believe that the smaller male was even asleep at the moment. “You'll get wrinkles if you make faces like that,” he continued on as he tutted gently, wrapping Jinsung's arm around his shoulder as he hefted the male up, carrying him easily up the stairs as Jinsung simply continued to grumble in his sleep, not hardly protesting especially with the way he instantly buried his face into Taechul's chest. And as they passed the HanJeon bedroom, whose door was half opened, Taechul just smiled lightly again at their tired argument before heading into his and Jinsung's respective room.

“I get bottom bunk,” Sangjeon said, his voice darkly monotonous from his exhaustion and his bad mood, glaring with a smoldering fire in his eyes. Haneul didn't understand; he had to sleep on the bottom bunk! It wouldn't be good for his health if he slept on the top bunk... And anyone underneath him either.

At the stubbornness laced in Sangjeon's voice again, Haneul simply glared back before smirking smugly and snapping smartly, “You're really not going to let me sleep on the bottom bunk? Aish, no wonder you don't have like any friends, you're ridiculously selfish!”

At those words, Sangjeon's eyes widened momentarily, stunned by the harsh truth in the words and completely flattened with his ego squashed against the ground. So without another word, he ascended to the top bunk and laid down dejectedly, simply praying he wouldn't have any issues as he slept. Haneul on the other end, satisfied with his win and grinning like a fed cat, jumped into the bottom bunk with a soft chuckle of triumph. Sangjeon: 0, Haneul: 1.

Things were seemingly going well that night before all of Sangjeon's hopes went into vain. It was about four in the morning when amid all of the smaller movements that had drove him to the edge of bed, Sangjeon rolled out of the top bunk and hit the floor like a dead body on his face. Just the sound itself had startled Haneul so bad he ended up sitting up from his bed and as he was trying to look down, fell off the bed and right onto the groaning Sangjeon, resulting in a painful mass of limbs and moans.

The loud thumps were enough to wake up Taechul, who was sleeping in the next room from them, and with a practiced grace of having to wake up instantly to care for his siblings when something happened in the middle of the night, he bounded over to open the HanJeon's bedroom door. “Are you guys okay?” he asked instantly as he stuck his head in, concern evident in his soft voice. However, after surveying the scene for a moment and from the noises coming from the two boys on the floor, a mischievous grin broke out on his face as he chuckled quietly. “Oh, did I interrupt something?” he purred out sensually, wiggling an eyebrow at both of them who simply glared blearily at him. Haneul and Sangjeon failed to see the humor as Sangjeon arduously and slowly crawled out from underneath Haneul, holding his sore jaw and wincing while Haneul delicately applied pressure to his sore wrist on which he had tried to brace his fall with.

“I paid a lot of god damn money for this jaw,” Sangjeon mumbled darkly before Haneul snapped his fingers. “I knew you had gotten plastic surgery! I could tell!” he announced sharply, patting himself on the back mentally for having correctly surmised that Sangjeon had work done before and sporting a smug grin at Sangjeon, who simply shot him a menacing glare.

“Oh congratulations, idiot,” he grumbled in an even darker voice before trying to sit up and relieve some of the pain on his chin. After that incident and especially after Taechul had been shooed away back to his own room by Haneul, Sangjeon reluctantly explained that he tended to move around and fall out of bed in his sleep often, resulting in Haneul amid muted complaints about how he was going to have to smell Sangjeon on the sheets for the rest of the night giving up the bottom bunk so that Sangjeon wouldn't roll out and fall the full five feet to the floor again.

Luckily for all of them, the rest of the night was uneventful and quiet until Dojung and the choreographer Jangsuk came in the next morning at sharply 7am exact on a mission to wake the boys up. They were more than surprised to find Taechul already awake and making coffee, whistling as he wandered around in only a pair of sweatpants, looking unusually spunky for being this early in the morning. But after a light smack to Taechul's , Jangsuk greeted him cheerfully in his usual rough manner ("Yo, morning y") and accepted an offered cup of coffee from the younger male who pretended to be mildly offended by the smack. Chuckling at the flirtatious teasing between the two friends, Dojung leaned back against the counter as he asked, “They're still asleep?” glancing up at the staircase that lead to the bedrooms.

Sticking his tongue out playfully at Jangsuk who simply raised an eyebrow in return at him, Taechul then shook his head as he nodded towards the bathroom that the six of them would be sharing, “No, Haeyeon is awake. He's taking a shower right now, but he's been in there for forty minutes already.”

“Do you think he fell asleep?” Jangsuk asked with a trickle of joking in his tone, turning his eyes on Taechul with a glint of ersion hidden in their depths. Jangsuk had seen their profiles at the mandatory staff meeting yesterday and he knew for a fact that Nam Haeyeon was one hot cookie, maybe more than even Taechul was.

At the body language that he knew so well from Jangsuk, Taechul wiggled his eyebrow suggestively before purring out, “I could check, I'm sure he wouldn't mind~” immediately earning a play-smack from Jangsuk again on the , who pretended to be jealous.

“You're not possibly thinking that he has a better body than me, are you?” he growled out jokingly, but with a fair amount of genuine curiosity in his words.

Taechul simply grinned back at him after a soft whine escaped from his lips and he pretended to rub his from the smack, “He might. He woke up even earlier than me, but he's been in there ever since.”

But before Taechul could go in and check to make sure Haeyeon was okay, the very male that they were talking about then stepped out of the steaming room with a towel wrapped around his head and about four layers of clothing on, looking like he was bundling up for hiking up to Mount Everest. And almost instantly, Taechul laughed when he saw him, surprised at how the handsome young male dressed on his own; he looked... Like an ahjussi. Haeyeon didn't notice the giggles that had erupted from an extremely amused Taechul, choosing instead to smile warmly at the manager and the newcomer who was undressing him with his eyes, bowing respectively and saying hello quietly to both of them before he headed back to the shared room with the still sleeping Kyugeum and Mayumi, who he had carried up late last night too.

“Well, Taechul, you might just be right,” Jangsuk conceded in approval as he his lips, bending back a little to get a better view of Haeyeon's rear end. It wasn't until the door was quietly shut that Jangsuk grinned with an undercurrent of ual want on his face, nodding in satisfaction and returned to drinking his coffee languidly. “So, who is going to wake up the sleepy heads?”

And that was how Dojung found himself in Sangjeon's room staring down the sleeping devil for the third time this week while Jangsuk went to wake up Kyugeum (also to check out Haeyeon a bit longer too) and Taechul tried to wake up Jinsung. The manager managed to wake Haneul first, finding the boy surprisingly easy to rouse as all he had to do was shake him a little before with some soft mumbling, the boy was up and stretching awake sleepily. Soon after he got dressed and prepared, Haneul then stood next to Dojung, staring down at Sangjeon as the boy itched his cheek and sniffled in his sleep, smacking his lips loudly before letting it hang open.

The temptation to dangle something into Sangjeon's mouth was certainly there as Haneul muttered with a disgusted expression on his face, “He's gross,” which instantly earned a giggle from Dojung who assured Haneul that this wasn't the worst of it. So with a bright and playful smile, Dojung simply plopped himself down on Sangjeon's back the instant the boy rolled over, earning a startled shout from Sangjeon as he flailed wildly under Dojung's weight while the manager simply giggled at his panicked reaction.

Meanwhile on the other side of the wall where all the noises from the other room were simply muffled shouts and giggles, Taechul had tried to wake Jinsung up gently, but the younger male only wrapped his thin legs and arms around the bar of the bed and refused to move at all. This was nothing new for Taechul of course since practically everything here only reminded him more and more of his siblings, Taechul quietly waited patiently until Jinsung had fallen back asleep and with the subtle and practiced touches of an older brother, he loosened his grip on the bed before slipping his arms under the smaller male to heft him over his shoulder with a soft grunt. Carrying him carefully down the stairs and plopping him down midst angry grumbles on the couch, Jinsung simply scowled up at him while trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes and unknowingly still hanging on tightly to Taechul's bare upper body. “It's early,” he complained quietly in English, his voice was deep and husky from sleep.

Taechul, who hadn't pulled himself away yet since he was more than enjoying having Jinsung wrapped around like him this, smirked mischievously. “You sound y first thing in the morning,” he purred sensually in English, patting Jinsung on the head before slipping out of his arms and going to fix the sleepy bedhead a cup of coffee cheerfully, while Jinsung merely gaped at his retreating figure, completely stunned into silence by the older male's words.

When he comprehended in a few moments however, Jinsung pulled his blue hood down over his face and scowled while trying to not let the pinkness staining his cheeks be seen by anyone as he grumbled, “ert,” crossing his arms over his chest in sleepy irritation. Within a moment though, Taechul had returned and handed him a steaming cup of coffee with a warm smile which Jinsung thought about rejecting because, well, he was stubborn like that. But his exhaustion quickly won him over after a small internal debate and he begrudgingly accepted the cup, pointedly neglecting to say thank you and instantly blearily glaring at Taechul instead as he sipped the coffee.

Kyugeum had been surprisingly difficult to wake up, even with both Jangsuk and Haeyeon trying to rouse him. The others expected him to wake up cheerful and giggly like he had been the previous night, but he was definitely not a morning person when he let out a loud moan that attracted the attention to everyone to him. Then, with Haeyeon carefully holding onto him to make sure that Kyugeum didn't just decide to trip the entire way down, Kyugeum stumbled down the stairs like a zombie and stared blankly at the counter top, immediately worrying the others who repeatedly asked him if he was okay. Haneul, who had been sitting and eating an apple when Kyugeum slumped into the seat next to him, prodded him and held his hand, trying to figure out if the energetic hyung was okay since he was being so unresponsive.

“Hyung? Hyung, are you alright?” he asked softly and gently, frowning a little when Kyugeum merely sunk down onto the counter top with a sleepy little grumble, completely planting his face against the cool marble. Now more than worried, Haneul shook Kyugeum slightly, but to no effect except for the continued zombie from the blonde male. So after a few moments and a lot of inner debate, he tried again, this time flushing slightly at what he was going to say, “O-oppa,” he mumbled lowly, feeling embarrassed using that term, “Oppa, are you okay?”

Finally, that seemed to do the trick as Kyugeum, despite his exhaustion, squeaked a little and pinched Haneul's cheek as he sleepily lifted his head just slightly, “Ahh, kyeoptaaaaaaaa,” he cooed out huskily, smiling like an idiot especially since half of his body was more or less draped against the counter top.

“Hate to interrupt your cute moment,” Dojung interrupted suddenly as he walked down stairs pushing a barely-dressed Sangjeon down and to keep him from trying to run all the way back up again, “But we've got to get going. You'll be starting your first day as BossX trainees today, and we're already running a little off schedule.”

So like a herd of grumbling and sleepy handsome cows, the two older males somehow got them all down the stairs where they were greeted with a large, ominous and black van parked right outside the dorm. And from where he was still being supported by a now fully dressed Taechul, Jinsung blinked at it for a moment before scoffing incredulously, “You want us to climb into your pedo-van? What the heck?” he mumbled darkly in English, inspecting the creepy van with a critical eye, “Seriously, all it's missing is a 'free candy' sign.”

Jangsuk, who shocked everyone but Taechul with his semi-fluent English mastery, simply pat Jinsung on the back with a smirk before chuckling quietly, “He takes the sign off for business,” he responded, his voice sounding serious enough to have Jinsung a little more than freaked out by the manager as he gazed at the knowingly smiling man who was getting into the driver's seat.

So amid some grumbling as to who would be sitting where and finally as they got settled in, the eight of them made their way across town with some of the members catching a few more minutes of sleep and to the BossX company building, where they were quickly shoved into an impromptu meeting with the staff members in what looked like a meeting room. Almost immediately as they settled down, a sharp dressed woman walked into the room, holding bags of what they assumed to be food.

“Hello boys,” she called out as she moved to the middle of the room, her voice friendly, clear and concise. Her smile was certainly gentle and welcoming as she handed each young man with a bag, which was packed with a simple breakfast of sliced up fruit, a hard boiled egg, and milk cups. And though even most of them happily accepted the bags, once they opened it, all they could do was simply stare dismally at the breakfasts. And as she had expected that very expression that most of them had, a nearly teary look of horror on on about half of their faces, she smiled kindly at all of them before explaining quietly, “Those were packed by Youngwoo-ssi, who will be your nutritionist. He's setting up diet plans right now, so he won't know about this." Then soon after, she returned back to her huge bag, pulling out muffins and giving each eager male one before smiling even more as most of them forsake the packed breakfast and happily ate the muffins instead. “There, you at least need a carb for some good energy. It's going to be a long day, after all. I'm Yoonae, and I'll be your vocal instructor. I hope we can work hard together,” she concluded with the same gentle and motherly grace that she had started with, bowing respectively to them after she finished her introductions and leaving most of them dazzled by her simple kindness.

And soon after, another woman stepped up; much different than Yoonae was since this lady was all long limbs, shapely hips, and a sizeable bust as she tucked some hair behind her ears coyly, smiling. “Oh my, my,” she purred, her voice low and sensual as she allowed her gaze to pass over all six of them, “Aren't you a handsome bunch? I can't decide which one of you I want to take home with me,” Throwing a wink at them as a group, she continued on, “I'm Boyoung, and I'm your Public Relations noona. I'll be in charge of handling all your television appearances, and I'll be teaching you how to use your charms effectively on broadcast. It is an absolute pleasure to meet you all.”

Taechul, unable to help himself, grinned devilishly back at her as she smiled at them. “The pleasure is all mine, Boyoung noona,” he responded flirtatiously, earning an equally flirtatious grin from the attractive noona when he threw in a wink which she returned just as quickly. After she had moved back and joined the other staff members, a pair of twins stepped up to take her place - well, one marched up confidently, dragging the other one behind her.

“I'm Jisun,” the more confident and prouder looking of the two said, but her confidence melted away just as quickly as she inspected their faces. “Oh my god, you're all so much more handsome in real life,” she gasped and gushed extensively, her face turning a slight shade of pink. “I just can't believe we'll really be married one day,” she mumbled wistfully eyes glazed over as she continued to stare at them with unblinking eyes. The members blinked back at her and then at each other with wide eyes, not quite sure they had heard her right, while the girl nearly hiding herself behind Jisun stammered out a nervous introduction, squeaking randomly throughout her speech.

“I-I'm Ji-Jihyun. I li-like your skin...” she said softly, staring at them with an open mouth and big eyes that were only accented by the make-up she wore. The boys shared uncomfortable glances as a very short but very fashionable male spoke up immediately right after, not bothering to move from his position of sitting on a table, examining his nails and not even looking up at them. Although the others stood to greet them, he obviously couldn't be bothered.

“I'm Zian, and I'd rather be at the studio than wasting my time introducing myself to you idiots,” he barked out in such heavily accented Korean that some of the weaker speaking Korean members could barely understand him. Immediately afterwards, he shot a glare at a sheepish Dojung in particular, who quietly and easily defended himself by reminding Zian that the owner of the company had ordered they introduce themselves.

The last staff member currently in the room was Jangsuk, whom they had familiarized themselves with Jangsuk on the car ride over, so he didn't feel the need to introduce himself again ("Jangsuk, your choreographer. Just ask Taechul for more information about me if you want."). So when the short introductions were done and Yoonae had made sure all traces of the muffins she had given to the boys were gone either in the trash or in their stomachs, the staff excused themselves to get ready for the long day while the boys were instructed carefully by Dojung.

“You'll be meeting with Youngwoo in a few minutes. Listen to everything he says and don't argue if you know what's best for you,” he cautioned quietly, leaving everyone feeling a little on edge as they shifted around nervously. How bad could this guy be? The way Dojung spoke, you'd think he was the incarnate of the devil - or someone so terrifying that even Dojung seemed wary of him.

Needless to say, they were more than surprised when Youngwoo entered the room as they were murmuring quietly to one another. “Oh goodness me!” his voice was light and airy, sweet and gentle to the ears, “I'm sorry for being so late. Will you find it in your heart to forgive me?” he asked softly, sighing dramatically before immediately using an endearing aegyo.

Blinking for a moment, Haneul turned towards Dojung then, confusion evident on his face as he stated, “Hyung, he seems-”

Dojung immediately then shook his head. “Don't let him fool you,” he cautioned quietly, one last time warning the boys as they were instructed to follow Youngwoo.

“He seems nice! I like you! A lot!,” Kyugeum chirped enthusiastically as he bounded up, happily making his way over to smile brightly at Youngwoo, who immediately smiled back at him with the same amount of cheerfulness.

“He's cute,” Haneul continued to protest against Dojung, smiling too and agreeing with Kyugeum wholeheartedly. Dojung's warning seemed completely preposterous as Youngwoo led them up the flights of stairs to the gym, chattering away about how excited he was to work with them, using tons of aegyo and pouting randomly at certain things the boys would say. Especially towards Haeyeon, who seemed a bit mystified and kept mumbling something to himself about how he knew he had seen Youngwoo somewhere... But in general, it seemed they had developed an easy rapport as it seemed that this hyung was going to end up being the nicest person they had met so far.

Oh how wrong they were.