"You did it Minho, you did it. Now it's your turn to shine." the tall teenager thought to himself.

He stepped into the elevator and it was about to close when a hand blocked the door.

-Sorry! I'm...going to the... 5th level. Oh... it's you. Good morning. The boy said between two heavy pants as he tried to catch his breath.

Minho knew him. They had been trainees together and the hours they spent practicing had turned them into acquaintances but not really into friends. Kim Kibum was cheeky and bubbly but also rather short-tempered at times and there had been times when they had started arguments about petty things, especially after long hours of practice when they were both tired and not ready to deal with the other's personality.

- Yo. I'm going too.

-Are you? Lee Soo Man called you too...

They kept quiet for the rest of the lift, they had nothing to talk about. When a little jolt indicated to them they had reached their floor, the door opened. The two boys walked toward SM Ent CEO's office. They knocked and a deep and warm voice said:

-Come in.

They did as they were told and saw Lee Soo Man sitting behind his desk. There were also three other young men, probably here for the same reason. Kim Young Min (Soo Man's associate) and another man in his thirties were present as well

-Ah Minho, Kibum! Please sit down.

They bowed politely and sat down. They discreetly peered toward the three other boys. Minho recognized them too. Lee Jinki was older than him. He quite liked him, Jinki was a nice guy, hard-working and serious when needed but really funny in his own way whenever they had some time to relax. Kim Jonghyun was also older but Minho wasn't really close to him. Jonghyun was cool and popular, the type of guy who hung around with other easy-going, fun-loving kids. As for the last one, it was with no hesitation, Lee Taemin. A perfect representation of awkwardness, or so did Minho believe. The young boy was the youngest of the five and Minho had troubles understanding him. During practice, especially during their dance classes, Taemin was fierce and determined but as soon as the teacher stopped the music track and announced the end of the class, Taemin would go back to being shy and discreet. 

Minho realized he hadn't been paying attention to what his boss was telling so he snapped out of his thoughts to focus.

-You've all worked hard, harder than any other trainee and thanks to your efforts, we've decided to recruit you as idols.

The five boys repressed an excited laugh but smiled widely.

-Well, you probably know each other a little but I'll introduce you to your new bandmates! This is Choi Minho, Kim Kibum, Lee Jinki, Kim Jonghyun and Lee Taemin.

-We now should find some important things such as group name, stage name, official color. For the color I thought of Pearl Aqua blue. Your seniors have pink, sapphire blue, red.

-Ah yes! Nice colour! 

-Shining! Jinki suddenly exclaimed.

-Huh?

-Band name! Shining! 

-Are you mad? It's the name of a horror movie with Jack Nicholson! Jonghyun laughed.

-Why not Shiny? It's nearly the same but without Jack Nicholson! Kibum suggested.

-Not bad...but it lacks that "thing" which makes a good kpop band name....Kim Young Min mused.

-Ah, if we combine shine and ee, it sounds like shiny but means something like "receiving the light"! Jinki exclaimed.

-That's nice! Taemin smiled and everybody else agreed on this name.

Minho smiled, he wouldn't have found something like that by himself.

After the band name came stage name. If Taemin, Minho and Jonghyun kept their name, Jinki got the stage name of Onew and Kibum became Key, as according to the boss "Kibum was too common to stay as it is". Key was shorter and had more "personality". Losing their name felt weird, both of them felt like their nickname would erase who they truly were, they would only be known as Key and Onew, their real names would not matter anymore in the music industry, for the fans and for the other people gravitating around them: stylists, coordinators, choreographers etc.

They each received their position in the band: the vocals would be Onew and Jonghyun, Key and Minho would be the rappers and Taemin the lead dancer and maknae of the group. Minho was to be the "visual" of the band, he didn't feel too happy with this, he was a singer not just a handsome thing to look at however he had no other choice but to accept his role and hope he would get some nice rap lines. Though he knew of what idol life was, he still felt a little uneasy to have his career path decided by people other than himself. However, he mostly felt excited by what would come:  rehearsing, recording, performing. Everyhting was too fabulous to worry about his lack of liberty.

- Alright boys. You are now together in this big adventure! You are SHINee and I want you to shine! You're young, you're full of energy and I want this to show on stage, ok?

The five boys nodded. Behind Lee Soo Man's inspiring words, they all perceived the fact that it was more of an order than an encouragement. They were five boys with different personalities, different goals, different passions and yet, they would have to look united in front of the cameras. The five of them didn't each other really well and it promised to a challenge for them to get to know each other in order to work as a band and not as five individuals stuck together because of their company.

- Ok guys, everything's settled, now let me introduce Shim Hyun Woo, your manager.

The man in his thirties who had kept quiet for the whole time, stood up and bowed, the idols did the same and Soo Man continued:

- Ok, we should work on your schedule and I promise it's going to be exhausting. But first it's important that I explain to you the dynamics within your band.

The young idols didn't really understand what the CEO meant with the word "dynamics" but they didn't have to wait long for them to understand:

- As a band, you have to be like a close-knit group of friends. And of course, in any friend group, we have some people with whom we are closer. Jinki, as the oldest and as the leader, you should behave like a caring and somewhat goofy big brother. Jonghyun, your personality will match Kibum's therefore, you will be the energetic duo. As for Minho and Taemin, your differences will be your strength: Minho as the visual you will be the calm yet charismatic one, Taemin you're the maknae, you will be the cute lovely little brother everyone can dream of.

Once again, their own personality didn't matter, they would be like comedians on stage: pretending to be the goofy one, the y one, the sassy one, the aloof one, or the cute one. Their entire being had gotten boiled down to one word. But once again, they were excited young promising rookies who shoved every unpleasant thought aside to concentrate on the joy of finally reaching their dream.

Minho didn't care about how tired he would be, how close he would have to act with Taemin, he only knew he would officially become an idol once the contract would be signed.

 -------------- Author Time -----------

End of the 1st chapter!! I hope you liked this chapter!

If you liked this fic, you can leave comments! Thank you!! ( If you want to, you can subscribe too!)

Even though I finished this fic some months ago, I still correct my mistakes! I'm a bit careless sometimes. ^-^