V-Day: 2 Weeks Prior.
2 Weeks Prior to V-Day
SM Entertainment threw a party for its two highly celebrated boy groups, whose success in the past year had been outstanding.
It was honestly just a small get together; a gathering between friends. After all, how long had the members of DBSK and Super Junior known each other? Heck, some even before their company brought them together.
It was just a small gathering, but even so, it was a break from work and a time to relax.
Refreshments were served, and it brought a feeling of utter joy upon Hero, who thought ‘Finally, the first time in 5 months I haven’t cooked for someone!’ A quick glance around the room had him lock gazes with Ryeowook, who looked at the food, then back at Hero. Smiling. Only they understood the pains and toils of cooking for hungry, (some still growing), men!
Hero was smiling now, too, and continued to look around the room at his friends. Xiah was locked up in what seemed like an intense conversation with Donghae and his BFF Eunhyuk, until something was said and- “EU KYANG KYANG!”
Well, there it was.
‘Little Dolphin Prince,’ Hero thought to himself, amused.
Micky was tied up in a seriously epic battle of Starcraft with Kyuhyun, and each man had his own cheering section. Kyuhyun’s consisted of Sungmin, Yesung, and Kibum, whereas Micky’s consisted of Kangin, Leeteuk, and Shindong.
Sungmin, surprisingly, was a violent little cheerleader, at least when it came to Starcraft. Or Kyuhyun. Whichever. The innocent-faced man was anything but as he screamed curses in Micky’s general direction during the battle, not to mention his astonishing show of strength when he ripped part of the couch cover off (OFF!) in frustration.
‘That’s, uh… that’s… wonder what Max is up to!’
Max was sitting in the kitchen, head on the table, hands on his stomach, grumbling something about real food. He caught Hero looking, flashing him his most charming (and hungry) grin, hoping his hyung would take the hint. When he didn’t, Max called out. “Hyung, I’m hung-“
“Ahaha! Well, where is that Yunho?! Huh, better go ask Ryeowook“ -insert “save me” face here- “where Yunho is. Yep, soooo busy going to find my lovely Yunho. Hi, Wookie!” Hero giggled nervously at the smaller man, who happily obliged him.
“Hey, Hero. You never call me Woo- oh. OHH. Yeah, let’s go find Yunho, hyung!” Ryeowook exclaimed, saving his friend from the last thing he wanted to do- feed Max, the Black Hole of Doom. Refrigerators shook in his very presence.
Just as Hero and Ryeowook began to scuttle away from the “danger zone,” the unmistakable noise of a door slamming filled the room, and everything got quiet.
“Hero Jaejoong!” a furious-looking Heechul called out to the younger man, Hankyung and Siwon in tow behind him, heads bowed down in embarrassment.
“Hyung?” Hero asked, confused.
“Don’t you ‘hyung’ me, mister. You and I have to settle our issues- right here, right now. Don’t give me that confused look, because you know you’re- would you stop that!” Heechul screeched at his two friends, conversing in low tones in Chinese next to him.
“Haha, sorry Chullie,” Hankyung muttered to his friend, a bemused smile on his face.
“Hyung, what’s the matter?” Sungmin pried himself away from the area of the Great Starcraft Battle to walk over to Heechul, concerned. It seemed his sanity came back, if only for a little while. “Did Hero-hyung do something to you?”
“Let’s just say Cinderella is having some vanity issues of late,” Siwon clarified.
“They are not just vanity issues, Siwon,” the older man stated, running slim fingers through his hair provocatively. “This is serious. My career- no, my very life depends on this! Hero,” Heechul snapped his head towards the lead singer, catching his attention.”Who’s prettier- me or you?”
Hero thought he must have heard him wrong. No, he swore he did. Did Heechul just barge into a friendly gathering, fuming and screaming like the Devil in tight skinny jeans and a hot pink top, just for this?
He looked at Xiah. Xiah’s eyes were big, and he only shrugged to his fellow member, just as confused by the whole situation as he was. Beside him, Eunhyuk scratched his chin, as if seriously contemplating the looks of the two pretty boys standing before him.
Max was staring at the refrigerator now, eyes glazed over. There would be no help from him until someone forced food into his stomach. Micky and Kyuhyun had muted their game of Starcraft but had continued playing it, no concern for the world around them. The others just gazed in awe at Heechul.
‘Where the hell is Yunho when I need him?!’ Hero asked himself, annoyed.
With nothing else to do in the situation, he did what he knew would solve the problem. He answered. “Well, I think you’re-“
He was interrupted by outrageous laughter. It was Kangin and Leeteuk. They were laughing so hard Kangin was bowed over in a fit.
“Hee- Hee- Heechul!” the bigger man finally managed to gasp out.
“You thought we were serious?” Leeteuk asked, trying to control himself while patting his best friend on the back helpfully. “Come on, Chullie, we didn’t mean it when we said Hero was prettier than you yesterday!”
“Yeah, we were drunk. Duh,” Kangin added, eyes sparkling with tears from laughter.
Heechul looked livid, his pristine feminine features dark in anger. Siwon rubbed the back of his friend’s head to help him calm down while Hankyung hid behind the Cinderella, stifling what looked like uncontrollable laughter. “There, there, my friend,” Siwon cooed, “don’t be like this. Pride is one of the Seven Deadly Sins, ya know. God said-“
“That Siwon should stop talking about him like a damn stalker. That’s what he said. Aish,” Heechul sighed dramatically. He seemed to be coming back down to his normal self again.
“You’re prettier than me, hyung,” Hero said finally. ‘Anything to stop this nonsense.’
“What?” Heechul asked. “It was that easy? I’m sure if someone told Sungmin he wasn’t nearly as cute as Xiah-“ an audible gasp, a whimper echoing from the smaller boy that Ryeowook was now holding and had to mentally patch up- “or that Yunho wasn’t as good a dancer as Eunhyuk, they would demand a test to prove it. Thus, I have prepared one!”
‘Hyung, I’m sorry!’ Kangin mouthed to Hero through small fits of giggles.
In an instant, out came two identical purple evening gown-like dresses, tiaras, and matching shoes.
‘What in the name of everything sane is all of this?!’ Hero asked himself. He couldn’t help himself when he felt it coming on- it was too late for him to stifle his laughter. He laughed and laughed, letting the musical notes fade away into the air as he realized no one else was laughing with him.
“Hyungs?” Hero pleaded, seeing the amused faces of all of his friends. (Minus Micky and Kyuhyun, now audibly cursing at the TV; Max, who had reverted to a more comfortable position on the floor tiles in the kitchen, groaning; and Sungmin, who was still being comforted by Ryeowook.) Xiah had jumped back from the crowd of boys, a look of fear on his face as he tried to hold back his best friend, but to no avail.
“Hyungs!” Hero screamed as they came toward him, accessories in tow. At least none of his members took part in this; otherwise they would have gotten it back at their dorm. Although Micky and Max could have tried, honestly, to save him- and where was Yunho, damnit?!
‘Oh, God. This is like a horror film, only with zombie fashion designers set to dress my body, not consume it! Oh, if only I had prayed to God more, been like Siwon, then He’d have mercy on me…’ Hero thought, panicked.
“Ohh, I call dibsies on styling his hair!” Yesung exclaimed, chuckling evilly.