[Fic] Humanoids [3/?]
Part II: Shut Eye
---
Thee days ago, Shim Changmin received a text from a friend.
Someone knows.
At first, Changmin wanted to jump on the closest transportation and escape to North Korea. Thankfully the text came at four in the morning and there were no buses that early so he didn't make a run to the 38th parallel. Instead, he put on his exceptionally practiced poker face--and skin toner and moisturizer and lotion and another toner and a combination moisturizer and concealer to hid the bags under his sleep deprived eyes--and marched out of his dorm room.
He walked straight to the training halls, greeting people nicely as they passed by. Since all the facilities were company owned, the trainee dorms were farther away in a cheaper area in town. So it took about twenty to thirty minutes to walk from his lodgings to any training hall. But it was only five minutes away from school so it was a disadvantage he was willing to have for the sake of school.
Reaching the main hall, Changmin took a deep breath before swiping into the building. The two tone beep and green flashing light told him that his card still worked. Even if someone knew, not everyone knew. Most importantly, SM didn't know.
With a bit more confidence, Changmin strolled down the hall and towards the stairs. While most people used the elevators, the building needed stairs to abide to certain fire regulations. But Changmin used it regularly and not for the extra exercise.
"Alright, now do you want to explain?" Changmin asked scathingly. The figure sitting on a lower step turned back startled at the sudden noise. They had chosen the staircase for private conversations since it didn't have any CCTV cameras. Strange for an exit not to have cameras, but it was so unused that not even the janitors cleaned the dusty steps anymore.
Standing up, his best friend and accomplice, Cho Kyuhyun, pouted at him guiltily, "Before you get angry at me, give me a chance to explain."
"Alright," Changmin replies, mockingly sweet. "I'll give you a total of ten seconds before I strangle you and leave you here so no one ever finds the body!"
"Come on Changmin-ah," Kyuhyun pleaded. "I wanted you to know just in case and it really wasn't intentional--"
"Seven. Six. Five."
"That's not fair, you didn't even start on ten--" Kyuhyun began, but Changmin cut him off.
"You're wasting time, ah, Two," Changmin smiled, not without a hint of cruelty.
"I got drunk and I met Micky," Kyuhyun finally blurted out. Realizing how irresponsible and utterly insensitive that sounded, Kyuhyun buried his face in his hands unable to look up.
"You met Micky," Changmin said deadpan. "You sold out your best friend to a partygoer."
"Micky's not just a partygoer," Kyuhyun mumbled. The retort coming out a lot weaker than it usually would have. If there was ever a more ardent fanboy, Changmin has yet to meet one as dedicated as Kyuhyun was to this Micky.
"Of course not, he's the partygoer," Changmin agrees sarcastically. He begins mocking his friend's usual spiel. "He has the largest contact list of any GM in all of South Korea. He only goes to the best parties. He has the moves, the girls and the mystery. No one knows his real name or where he lives! He can sing and he can dance and he is such a man--"
"He says he wants to meet you," Kyuhyun interrupted.
"Hm. How much money do you think I should bring? You know, to buy his silence?" Changmin nodded nonchalantly.
"Seriously Changmin," Kyuhyun said. "I don't think he wants to blackmail you."
"If he doesn't want to blackmail me, I'm sure there are enough people in SM alone who would love to see me out of here!" Changmin exploded. His voice ringed through the stairwell. "Hell, you wanted me out of here when I first got here!"
"That's a low blow," Kyuhyun whispered and Changmin flinched. It was. After all, Kyuhyun was part of the reason Changmin was survive in SM Entertainment as a natural born. "I wasn't that drunk. He wanted to help a friend who's also a natural born. I don't think he has bad intentions."
Changmin sighed. Yes, he was mad at Kyuhyun for spilling to some random stranger, but Kyuhyun was also his best friend for a reason. In a company where looks and talent were everything--where prearranged genes slowly became the standard, it was easy to lose one's self in the competition. After all, how can you compete with someone who has superior genetics?
The only way to get rid of those better were scandals or backstabbing. Coming into SM as a special talent, Changmin didn't have a loving and easy initiation into the trainee group. Even when Kyuhyun had accidentally found out about his status, the other boy--who hadn't liked Changmin back then--feigned ignorance and even rebutted some of more gossipy trainees.
"Just because we're GMs doesn't mean a thing," Kyuhyun had said later in the stairwell. "We're more likely to be a certain way; it doesn't mean we actually are."
And those words have carried Changmin to today.
So that's why he's sitting in room 333 of a club he never comes to in order to meet this Micky person. All for Cho Kyuhyun.
Changmin chuckles to himself--missing the jiggling and closing of the door--and wonders if he should ask Micky for an autograph.
---
When Jaejoong walked into the room, he wasn't sure what he was expecting but it wasn't that boy lounging on the couch. Tall and lanky and handsome, the younger boy looked like a typical GM teenager who was almost to the stage of fleshing out.
The other looked up from whatever musings and it was almost like a magazine cover, picture perfect. Dark brown eyes with a piercing gaze and strong facial features to accent it, the younger teen looked like the poster child for genetic modifiees.
The boy frowned and asked--voice smooth and pleasant, "Which one of you is Micky?"
"That would be me," Yoochun says, raising his hand as though they were in class. Instead of Yoochun's typical dorky actions, his movements were more fluid--almost cool if Jaejoong didn't know him. "And you are Shim--"
"I thought I was only meeting you," the boy said, suspicious and guarded. "No one told me you were bringing a friend."
"I'm sure Kyuhyun told you why I'm meeting you," Yoochun said, seemingly avoiding the subject. Jaejoong's mind spun with questions. Who was Kyuhyun? Who was this boy? Was he the trainee that is--? "This is the friend I was talking about."
"Shim Changmin," the boy said reluctantly, holding out a hand to Jaejoong.
"Kim Jaejoong," Jaeoong responded, returning the firm shake. A karaoke room seemed to be the last place for such a formal introduction and while it flustered Jaejoong a bit, he recovered quickly. He tried to retrieve his hand but Changmin held on to it. Jaejoong squirmed slightly at the other's sharp eyes as they inspected him.
"You're a natural born?" Changmin asked, still holding his hand tightly.
"Yes," Jaejoong answered, unnerved.
"Well, you don't look it," Changmin declared and released his hand. "But I'm sure you get that a lot."
"We're your elders," Yoochun injected. Jaejoong had noticed the informal language, but he hadn't been too sure whether Changmin just looked young or he actually was. "By one and two years if you want to be exact."
"And I'm helping you," Changmin responded. "In breaking the law, I'm your sunbae-nim."
Jaejoong bit his lip to smother a smile. He liked this cheeky little bastard.
"Get into SM," Changmin smirked. "Then I'll treat you by our society's standards."
"Fair enough," Jaejoong agreed. "But I'll have you calling me hyung-nim before the end of the week."
Changmin smiled, "But you'll probably still have to call me sunbae."
"Not if I debut before you," Jaejoong retorts, smiling as well.
They had just met but this back and forth bickering felt comfortable. In any other case, Jaejoong might have felt defensive and taken these comments as attacks. It might be Changmin's overall image--smartass child--or his clever use of inflections that just couldn't be taken offensively. They were teasing--of course it was meant to hurt--but not belittling.
"We'll see who gets the last laugh," Changmin nods.
---
Yoochun didn't know what to do but laugh and he laughed. So this is how Shim Changmin, a natural born, survived in one of the most cutthroat companies and rose to be one of the best.
The boy was a natural bundle of wit and will. None of it science, all from mom and dad. The creation of natural reproduction and random assortment. Well, Yoochun wasn't sure whether there weren't any external influences but from what he's seen from the short five minute interaction was a very determined individual, unafraid to be himself.
"Hey, are you doubting me?" Jaejoong grumbled, reading Yoochun's laughter to be of ridicule rather than amusement.
"No, no!" Yoochun chuckled. "Not at all hyung."
"If he doubted you, I don't think we'd be meeting right now," Changmin said dryly. "At least, I wouldn't be wasting my time like this."
"How did you do it?" Jaejoong asked, directing the conversation towards the main subject matter.
"Which part?" Changmin asks. "Getting in or staying in?"
"Well, I guess I need to get in first," Jaejoong replies.
"Either way, this conversation will be rather long," Yoochun says. He pushes the two of them towards the couches. They sit down, two on one side and Changmin alone on the other side. "Better to be comfy."
"To get in, there are three basic requirements," Changmin begins explaining. "First, you need to look like a GM--which you pass. Second, you need to sound good and since I'm here, I'm going to assume you sing well. Third, you--"
"Why are you being so helpful?" Yoochun interrupts. "From what I heard, you're a tough nut to crack."
"Would you rather have to chase me down and play twenty questions?" Changmin asks with an elegantly raised eyebrow. "I can play a mean game of hide and seek, especially in the GM district."
"No, but after talking to your friend Kyuhyun, I thought we would be interrogated a little more before you started talking," Yoochun shrugs. "Not that I'm saying this isn't convenient."
"I guess it's lucky for you that you found the cheat code through all that," Changmin sighs. "Do you want me to continue or not?"
"The third requirement has to be the GM license," Jaejoong says, giving Yoochun a pointed look. Yoochun shrugs but backs off.
"Correct," Changmin replies turning back to Jaejoong. "And that's the tricky one."
"Is there an underground thing for GM licenses or something?" Jaejoong asks. He glares at Yoochun. "I hope that's not that case."
"Like a GM license cartel? I wish," Changmin chuckles. "Then this thing would have been much easier to get ahold of."
Changmin pulls out his wallet and slides out his GM license. The plastic card hit the table almost soundlessly and glided towards the two. Yoochun recognizes the engraving and watermarks, whistling at the high quality fake.
"That's a very nicely done counterfeit," Yoochun says. "Must have been done by a GM."
"You should be able to tell," Changmin nodded.
Yoochun freezes and prays that the younger boy wouldn't say anything too incriminating. To make sure a GM came out correctly, doctors typically inserted a gene which allowed them to see particular colored inks. So the licenses naturally used those inks and unless made by a GM, usually most forgers can't replicate it. Yoochun had completely forgotten that it couldn't be seen by natural borns. He had also forgotten that Changmin knew he was a GM but he never forgets that Jaejoong doesn't.
"He's probably the only fake GM licenser around here," Changmin continues on a different tangent and Yoochun rolls his shoulders backwards to release the tension building in his chest. "I think he might even be in the club tonight."
"You know him well?" Jaejoong asks quizzically.
"Hm, he's also a trainee at SM," Changmin nods.
"Eh? I might know him then," Yoochun perks up. He was always interested about the SM trainees and while he knew many juicy secrets, the fake GM licenser was probably the most outrageous thing he's heard so far.
"Kim Heechul," Changmin says.
Yoochun turns just in time to see all the color drain from Jaejoong's face.
---
Kim Jaejoong hadn't always disliked GMs. No, he had fallen to the admiration and enchantment of genetic modifiees as well. It was inevitable. They were beautiful and constantly beautiful.
At the age of twelve, Jaejoong knew he was good looking. People mistook him as a GM and he used to puff up his chest in pride. He knew back then that he wanted to sing and perform on stage.
So he went to his first audition, confident and slightly arrogant.
He breezed past the visual auditions. He even ranked number one in that, above all the GMs that came. He made a lasting impression with his singing audition. While he was ranked third, he was only behind two GMs. The others auditioning looked to him with wide eyes full of admiration and enchantment. Even some of the gems looked at him with such yearning eyes, wishing their genetics were up to his level, but not knowing the irony.
Jaejoong, the natural born, was going to beat all these GMs, manufactured for perfection. It was a thrill and he aimed for the top.
Everything was perfect until the semi-final round. He had tied with another boy, a GM. They tied in visual, Jaejoong was higher in vocal but the other was higher in dance--Jaejoong couldn't dance to save his life back then. Then the interviewers turned to the papers.
And Jaejoong would never forget the result.
"Kim Heechul, we'll see you in a moment. Kim Jaejoong, I'm sorry. Please re-audition next."
The scale tipper? Kim Heechul was a genetic modifiee.
And he would have never found out if it weren't for a judge's mistake of actually marking it on the score sheet. Jaejoong still keeps that paper. He keeps it for the three small red words and a two point deduction:
Not a GM -2
He lost to Kim Heechul by one point that day and he's never befriended any genetic modifiee since
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A/N: Alright. This might be a chapter or two longer than I thought. I haven't even gotten to Yunho's part yet LOL
And I just love Changmin and Kyuhyun (if you read enough of my stuff [or just Happily Ever After] you'll realize I love putting these two bffs alongside each other :3)