Soyoung

They'd been at it for days.

Usually, TALON members got along.

Soyoung knows this because before they were die-hard romantic lunkheads, she'd toured with them multiple times.

They liked to tease her and call her Noona, though she's barely days older than their leader.

The members in question, Daehyun and Noyoung, were not arguing over a girl. They were arguing about what to get their girlfriends for Christmas.

Soyoung has met both young ladies and had initially been wary of them. Maggie-and-Dae had been a Thing, briefly, before Maggie had magically disappeared one night early in Dae's career.

Noyoung, on the other hand, had confessed to routine visits with Missy.

Very odd, but maybe not.

Maggie had been in Seoul for university and had taken a job at her grandmother's behest. Missy, a friend and, unless Soyoung had misunderstood, a cousin, had come for a visit and she and Noyoung

had quickly become attached.

Not that Soyoung blamed either pair. Maggie and Missy were eccentric and slightly crazy, but good-hearted. Missy was a recent convert to Monsta X, and Maggie had been a fan of JJ Project since her uni days.

Unfortunately, the women weren't here to reminisce and rekindle or reinvigorate romances.

Those two women, unassuming though they seemed, were part of an elite global investigative outfit. And with one of the CHOI.E trainees murdered, Dae's romantic problems had taken a backseat.

That is until the case was solved. Maggie had been bombarded by the arrival of her two younger half-siblings, Marshall and Miranda, both of whom were avid TALON fans.

Taeseok had tried to put his foot down and have a form of order created from the chaos.

Chaos had overruled him entirely.

It was the week before Christmas. 

Dae and Maggie had reconciled. 

Missy and Noyoung had admitted to being in a relationship.

Marshall and Miranda had dragged all the trainees who were still mourning into such a madcap caper that they'd smiled again.

Sure, Taeseok won't get his wish, but Soyoung kind of wishes they could.

Oh, right, the argument.

Soyoung kind of wishes she'd gone home instead of volunteering for the next tour. It's so loud. Especially with Dae and Youngie arguing over who's girlfriend was this, that and the other thing.

It's cute.

It is.

But she doesn't care.

-

Christmas isn't a huge thing. The Choi family that runs the agency (which Taeseok and his cousin and member Alejandro both do) is mostly Buddhist, except that Nando's Mom Esperanza was raised Christian and is now Atheist. Noyoung (O'Neill Noyoung is a menace, don't ever listen to him) was raised atheist and had converted to paganism after one-too-many rants from Missy about the horrors of monotheism.

Soyoung had shrugged that one off and just enjoyed the celebrations that did happen. Old man Taehyun (the Choi) was always nice enough to offer a week off and a few extras besides.

The big to-do at CHOI.E is the Winter dinner.

Soyoung is dreading it because while she likes working with TALON, all their friends, more likable colleagues, whatever trainees had earned the right, and whichever members of the senior groups on hiatus felt like showing up would poke their noses in.

It's not a bad time of year to do some poking. It's just that TALON is the only group actively on tour (with the company), and no one is paying attention to the fact that all this running around is giving Soyoung a headache.

Except for the members of Skyfall, who had just debuted at one less than they had thought they would, everyone else was at full strength.

Which meant more headaches because if you thought a tense TALON on tour was bad, you had never seen the girls of Shaeya, now that their kids were old enough for babysitters.

Those mom-idols loved their wine. They also loved dance-offs to show that they still'... had it.

Because you would have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to notice that CHOI.E had gleefully embraced the KPOP culture of sing, dance, scream, rinse, repeat. Old man Taehyun, the President, his older son Taesung, and his grandsons, Taeseok and Alejandro.

Refusing to consider sending her regrets to one of the few staff events she secretly unquestionably enjoyed (even with the noise), Soyoung closed her eyes and counted to ten.

-

Okay, she'd known it would be bad, but not this bad.

Someone had allowed the Skyfall dongsaengs to get drunk.

They were now loudly singing every song they could think of to commemorate their deceased member.

Loudly, at the top of their lungs.

The Shaeya members were either animatedly talking about mom things with their hoobaes, the ladies of Titania, or dancing with members of TALON, GLO and 1Go.

Scratch that. The only TALON member on the floor was Akibara Yun, who was dancing with Chantel Day, the leader of Shaeya.

Daehyun and Maggie were canoodling in the corner.

Missy and Noyoung were yelling at someone- probably Chaehyung, Dae's best friend, though why, Soyoung does not want to know- while Miranda and Marshall copied their moves.

Taeseok was growling at his grandfather- probably in an attempt to restore order.

Poor Taeseok. Even Nando had succumbed to the chaos by now.

-

Christmas Day is over, and it's time for the next concert on the tour list. Frankly, Soyoung has had more than enough. She had put in the training hours, had done everything her boss had asked of her.

Her everything hurt.

Thankfully, there's no need to be nervous since she has memorized all that she needs to know and can now take a break.

But wait.

She and the other dancers had been temporarily relocated from their snug dorms to hotel rooms in a swanky hotel as a reward for a job well done.

Except she can hear everything, and she just wants to sleep.

Really, it would not have been terrible to go home, order some food, and sleep.

Apparently, being the only backup dancer who was still (happily), single was a problem that needed rectifying because instead of ordering room service and crashing, Leader-unnie had nagged her into party clothes, and they'd all gone to a bar to celebrate the end of the tour as well as Skyfall's recent debut.

And just maybe, the day wasn't a total bust when she spied a sexy stranger she did want to have a chat with.