three

͙⁺˚*･༓☾

"THANK YOU, SEOUL!""GOODNIGHT!""SEE YOU AGAIN SOON!"

the wails and thunderous screams of pure joy boom through the arena as one of the most exhilarating concerts sunoo has ever attended comes to an end. the rest of the night went perfectly, even though sunoo didn't catch sunghoon's eye again after that one moment. he doesn't know why he expected to. it was all probably in my head, anyways.

"that was so fucking good, wasn't it?!" ni-ki shrieks in sunoo's ear, gripping his shoulder as they stick close together in order to not get lost in the crowd of bodies trying to exit. "wanna get merch?"

a weird feeling pops into sunoo's stomach and he suddenly finds himself saying, "i actually need to use the toilets one last time."

riki nods, letting go of his shoulder and pulling out his mobile phone. "i'll be over here, text me when you're out, sun."

sunoo sends him a thumbs up before walking away. sure, there's a men's room adjacent to him, but it isn't the one his feet are planning on taking him to. he isn't even sure he has to use the bathroom, but if he somehow ran into park sunghoon again, he wouldn't be shocked if his bladder decided to surprise him.

who am i kidding? why would sunghoon be there again? now that the concert is over, i'm sure he's way too busy and the toilets will probably have a–

–line. sunoo sighs to himself as the restroom, that was once empty earlier in the night, now consists of a long line of people snaking outside the door and into the hall. he runs a hand through his hair as he thinks of what to do.

in the end, he decides it's stupid. why would sunghoon be back here? and why does he even want to find him? just because he saw sunoo in the toilets once and he heard him sing? he's probably heard a lot of fans sing his songs. you're being stupid, sunoo.

sunoo shakes his head shamefully, turning around to make his way back to ni-ki. he stands in the same spot as sunoo left him, thumbs typing away on his phone. ni-ki glances up once he sees sunoo approaching, a smile spreading across his face. "hey! ready to go?"

sunoo nods, forcing a small smile. he doesn't want ni-ki to suspect anything, but for some reason, he finds himself somewhat bummed. knowing he wouldn't see sunghoon again saddened him and he still is not so sure as to why. he doesn't even know him, he's just a member of his favorite kpop group. why must i always overthink everything?

"sun? you good?"

riki breaks sunoo's spell and he's reminded that he's literally walking on the crosswalk. focus, sunoo!

"oh, uh, y-yeah. fine, sorry," he stammers dumbly.

fortunately, ni-ki just laughs it off and continues walking beside him back to the car.

͙⁺˚*･༓☾

"why do you look constipated?" sunghoon asks his group mate and group leader, jungwon, once they're settled back inside their dressing rooms. the show had finally come to an end and they all had an amazing time, despite their extreme exhaustion from all the dancing and singing. the concert went really great and the crowd was so alive and energetic, hence the reason sunghoon is confused as to why his friend looked the opposite.

"wha–huh? i'm not, i'm just," jungwon sighs, collecting his thoughts, "i got a text from our boss saying he wants to have a talk with us after the show."

all four of the other boys groan in annoyance at jungwon's words. the last thing any of them wanted was to hear some sort of scolding or something after a tiring show.

noticing their faces, jungwon raises his eyebrows, realizing he completely killed the mood. "b-but, hey, maybe it's good news? i'm probably just overreacting," he explains, hoping to give some reassurance to the others. it was hard having the pressure of maintaining the group all to himself sometimes, but jungwon tries his best, and the members know that.

"since when does the boss ever give us good news?" sunghoon remarks, rolling his eyes.

"he does, hoon, don't be a downer," jungwon replies, a little less convincingly than he had hoped.

"well, let's just see what he has to say then, yeah?" jake perks up, earning a nod from the others.

a while later, all five boys are seated in the office of the boss™, the creator of the record label the boys are signed to. in fact, he's such a big deal, that the boys don't even know his full name. he's just labeled as "the boss". to say the boys disliked the boss, though, would be an understatement. despite the good he has done for them, such as form their group and offer them incredible opportunities, the boys had grown to conclude that the boss isn't a very good person in general. most of the time, he said or did more bad than good.

if you were to ask the boys who despised the man the most, though, they would all agree sunghoon in a heartbeat. although he never went into much detail about it with his group mates, sunghoon had learned that the boss and their management were extremely homophobic, which for sunghoon, really put a damper in things when he had told the boss he was gay one day.

"boys, glad you could make it," the boss deadpans from behind his desk, not even glancing up to look them in the face.

sunghoon rolls his eyes, earning a small nudge in the side from jungwon.

"what is it you need to talk to us about, boss?" jay speaks up, crossing his arms as he leans back in his chair.

this time, the boss folds his hands and leans slightly over them, his full attention on the five. "the team and i have been talking for some time now. we've come to a major conclusion in regards to increasing your publicity."

the boys glance at each other in confusion. only heeseung decides to say something. "is something wrong with our current status?"

the boss nods his head, leaning back into his chair, twiddling a pen between his fingers. "look, you five are brilliant. your shows practically sell out and your three albums have reached remarkably high on the charts."

"but?" jungwon croaks, anxiously.

"but," the boss starts, "it isn't enough. it isn't the best it could be. and so, we've come up with a genius idea, sure to have your names written in every news article."

sunghoon lets out a huff, tired of him beating around the bush. "get to it then," he sasses, earning a side eye from the boss.

"we're adding a sixth member to the group."

all five boys sit in utter surprise, none of them expecting this type of announcement. a new group member? almost a year after their group has been together? is this really necessary?

the boss continues after nobody speaks up. "a sixth member of the group will start a lot more talk in the media, which is a plus, but it will also grow your fanbase immensely. a new, straight boy," he sends a small look sunghoon's way, "will attract many more girls interested in your music. a new member to fan over is just what we need. this isn't up for debate, by the way."

all five boys look at each other, neither able to read any of their expressions. only sunghoon's could be read; he sits with a furrow in his brow and a pang of hurt in his eyes, which none are sure as to why.

sunghoon loses himself in his thoughts for a second. in the moment, he couldn't care less about adding a new member. all he could think about was the double-sided comment the boss had just rudely and obviously directed towards him. although none of the others may have picked up on it, sunghoon sure as hell did, and it hit him hard. did the boss think he wasn't enough for this group simply because he wasn't a straight man? did that really affect their fame and the name they make for themselves? was his sexuality a burden to the group? shouldn't true fans be there to support them for their music? why should they care if he also likes men? can't guys be their fans, too?

"hoon, what do you think?"

sunghoon catches jungwon's eye, having not heard anything they were saying. "uh, about...?"

"about holding a private audition of some sort," the boss butts in, irritation and impatience laced in his tone.

sunghoon avoids his gaze, keeping it locked on jungwon instead. suddenly, sunghoon thinks back to before the concert. the sweet, angelic voice of the boy from the toilets began ringing in his ears once again. the shorter, raven-haired boy with bright round eyes. the one who could sing really well.

and he was pretty.

"what exactly do you mean by, uh, exclusive?"

the boss rolls his eyes. "obviously it means the auditions are invitation only. we don't want a whole lot of retards thinking they stand a chance. the team picks and chooses candidates."

choosing to ignore the boss's derogatory outburst, sunghoon tries hard to think of the name of the boy from the toilets. shit, he didn't catch his name. but it didn't matter. he'd find out.

"i think i know someone who should audition."