Jackson found it hard to concentrate on training; his mind would not stop wandering back to his friend and what could have happened to make him leave without saying goodbye. He'd known for a while that Jeongmin no longer wanted to be at Eclipse, the constant bullying by other trainees taking its toll on him, but he'd thought that the kid would at least stay long enough to see the results of their auditions. What saddened him most was the fact that Jeongmin had more talent than most of the other trainees, yet he left believing that he wasn't good enough to ever make his dream come true. If only he had waited a couple more hours...

He picked up the tempo, dancing so hard his muscles burned from the strain by the time he finally allowed himself to take a break. His initial excitement at being selected out of the dozens of trainees to audition had faded, leaving him feeling empty every time he thought about packing and moving to the other side of the building where the bands resided.

After an hour of strenuous dance sets, he finally stopped for a water break, which was when he became aware of the ruckus outside in the hallway. There was cheering and chanting, but it was hard to hear what was being said. He was going to ignore it and get back to his training when one word caught his attention...

"Choji! Choji! Choji!..." the crowd outside chanted.

He fought his way through the crowd to find a familiar figure crouching in one corner, covered in glittery muck.

"You wanted to be a star so badly, here's your chance to shine," the kid blasting glitter at him from a glitter gun shouted.

Jackson grabbed the gun, threw it into the laughing crowd and shoved the boy, then turned to help his friend up. "You okay?" He lifted Jeongmin's face, turning it this way and that to check if he was hurt. "Hey, look at me. Are you hurt?"

Jeongmin shook his head, then lowered his face again.

"What the hell are you still looking at? Get the hell out of here..." he shouted at the crowding trainees.

"And who are you? His fairy godmother?" one of the boys in the crowd shouted back at Jackson.

"Maybe he wants to sparkle too," someone shouted.

Jackson grabbed the boy closest to him and shoved him away hard enough to make him slam into a wall. "I said get out of here!"

"You heard him. Get the fuck out of here, you brainless degenerates," said a voice from somewhere behind the crowd.

The crowd began quietly dispersing, revealing two T.Y.D. members. The one who had spoken – Yoongi – was hitting and kicking each trainee as they passed him, while Daehyun merely stood by, arms crossed.

"Get him cleaned up and report to our dorm in an hour," Daehyun said once the hallway had been cleared.

▲▼▲

"Not you again!" The young woman groaned. "He's given very strict instructions that he's not seeing anyone today, especially you."

"He said that? He mentioned me by name?" Leo clutched at his heart. "You're breaking my heart."

Taekwoon was already halfway to Moon Kyungsoo's office door by the time his secretary made her way around her desk.

"Ahjussi! How are you?" Taekwoon asked as he walked in.

"Do I need to get a security detail on my door?" Kyungsoo asked as Taekwoon sauntered in and sat down in the visitor's chair. He waved his secretary out as she stood in the doorway staring daggers at the intruder.

"Why? Do I scare you, Ahjussi?" Taekwoon looked down at the file he was holding as he spoke.

"If you're here about the auditions. You're two days late reporting back to me on how it went." President Moon put his pen down and leaned back in his chair.

"We've been busy."

"It's Wednesday Taekwoon; your auditions were on Saturday. It's not professional to keep the trainees in limbo for so long," President Moon admonished. "How long does it take to make a decision?"

"It took us a few hours. And the results were posted this morning."

"Not the way I heard it, everyone's still checking the notice boards regularly." Mr Moon's expression was one of annoyance.

"Strange. Daehyun was meant to post the results this morning, he's usually very dependable." Taekwoon looked back at President Moon with a puzzled expression. "I will look into it."

"Who've you decided on?" Kyungsoo observed Taekwoon over his dark-rimmed glasses.

Taekwoon tossed the file onto the desk and moved to get up. "They can move in later today."

President Moon opened the file and paged through it briefly. "Yah! I'm not approving this!" He threw the file back across the desk. "Not only did you go ahead with auditions I never sanctioned, you go on to select three new members when you only asked for two. Decide which two you want and I will sign off on it."

Taekwoon looked out the window for a few moments, unfazed by their CEO's words. He would have his way, that was something he was certain of. Unlike most other music companies, Eclipse contracts are tailor-made to suit both the artist and the company, so his contract gave him all the creative freedom he needed. And creating the band he wanted was part of his creative freedom, in his opinion.

"That's who we want. All of them. We've discussed it and this is the only way it will work." Taekwoon stood with his arms crossed, his voice every bit as firm as his stance.

"I'm not signing off on this." Moon Kyungsoo picked the file up again, leafed through the pages, removed one profile and threw it at Taekwoon. "There, I've decided for you. We will add these two to your band profile."

Taekwoon caught the batch of stapled pages and glanced at it. "You're going to give that pretty young woman out there a nervous breakdown, you know."

"How's that? What does she have to do with any of this?" Kyungsoo asked with a confused expression.

"Because I will be back in here again tomorrow around this time." Taekwoon put the stack of papers back on Kyungsoo's desk and took a step toward the door. "And the day after that. And the day after that. And after that... I think you get the picture, Ahjussi." He pointed at the file on the desk. "I will keep coming back here until you sign off on those new members. I'm not looking forward to it, but you know I will try my hardest to keep my word on that." He turned to leave. "I wish you a wonderful day without interruptions, Ahjussi."

"Yah! You can't threaten me, you brat!"

▲▼▲

"Told you that kid has no manners," Daehyun said. "Who shows up to an audition empty-handed?"

"Uhm... everyone?" Yoongi replied. "Except when they're auditioning for you."

"If he's not here in the next half hour, I say we cut him and stick to the original idea of five members."

"Just go get him; we don't have all night to get these fools settled in."

"Why do I need to get him?"

"Because a responsible adult needs to stay here with the kids and Taekwoon isn't here," Yoongi said.

"You do realise that's an argument in my favour?" Daehyun grabbed his jacket and stomped off toward the door. "But I will be the bigger person and go find that fool."

Yoongi turned his focus back to Jackson and Jeongmin who had been sitting on the sofa quietly for close to two hours. He had stepped in when they'd found the trainees bullying the kid only because he was now a member of T.Y.D., but if he had to be honest, that was exactly the kind of kid he too would have bullied when he still had the time and patience for senseless fun. Who comes to his new dorm to formally meet his new band for the first time dressed as Leopard Boy with glitter all over his hair and face?

▲▼▲

"Nam Seok Jin, where can I find him?" Daehyun asked someone in one of the trainee dorms.

"Pretty Boy? That kid's always in the studio or the cafeteria," the boy said.

"When he gets back tell him to come see us. And clean up this place, it's a disgrace," he said, pointing at the piles of clothes and shoes lying around the dorm. He left without waiting on a response from the trainees in the room.

There, they wanted him to look for the boy and he did. He was not about to run around the building trying to find him. He was on his way out of the trainee dorms when he spotted a tall figure leaving the studio – there was no way anyone could forget those broad shoulders.

"Yah! Kid!" he shouted.

The person turned toward him and looked Daehyun up and down with what could only be described as disdain. "What?"

Daehyun was about to teach the kid a lesson for addressing him with such disrespect, but something in the other boy's casually imposing manner made him rethink every insulting word he was about to hurl at him. "Report to our dorm," he said instead. "Please."

▲▼▲

"Now that we're all finally here, I'd like to officially welcome you into T.Y.D.," Daehyun said after everyone had introduced themselves. "I know that this is not how things are usually done around here, but the decision to expand our band was a spur-of-the-moment one, so everything is being done a little differently to what you're used to."

"They're not 'used to' anything, they've never had the privilege of being in the hottest band ever. Everyone's arrived. Can't you see how excited they are to be here?" Yoongi pointed at the sofa across from him – Jin was observing them with little to no interest, Jeongmin was staring off into space and Jackson was focused on Jeongmin's hand that he had been absently stroking the entire time. "So wrap up this little speech and let's all go to bed."

"Let's talk further in the morning once we've all rested," Taekwoon said. "Any questions?"

"Yes, where do we sleep?" Jin asked.

"Good question." Taekwoon got up, walked to his room and shut the door, leaving the others to discuss the things he felt was of little importance to him.

"Does that mean he's not sharing with anyone?"

Daehyun shrugged. "I like my room, I'm not moving."

"I like your room too," Yoongi said as he got up from the couch. "Say Whoopdedoo! kids, you get to have my room. Just move all my stuff into his room in the morning."

"So that over there would be your room, I suppose. Ask if you need anything," Daehyun said as he headed toward his room. "Help yourselves to whatever's in the kitchen."

"Tsk-tsk! Why am I even here?" Jin exclaimed, his frustration at his new band clear. "Have you eaten?" he asked of the other two boys. "Get him cleaned up while I see what's in there." He pointed toward the kitchen without waiting on a reply from them.

By the time Jackson came out of the bathroom with a still somewhat twinkling Jeongmin, Jin had set out three bowls of steaming ramen. "Sorry, this is all I could find in here."

"Smells delicious," came a voice from behind them, "is there any left?"

At first, Jin merely glared at the newcomer, but in the end, he pushed his bowl across the kitchen island toward Daehyun and got up to dish another serving.