The Boy Band Formation Series

Qiao Ye was fifteen, his features just beginning to mature, his boyishness still showing, when the idea suddenly came to him: he wanted to become a star. With a face that made everyone look twice, he sent his resume to a company that was recruiting and embarked on a chaotic, never-ending journey of singing and dancing. His four teammates had wildly different personalities. Even the ones who seemed gentle were only putting on an act. Every last one of them was a difficult troublemaker. Long months of training, internal group selections, and a flop debut. He gritted his teeth and made it through every stage to achieve his goal. He had to bow and scrape to secure opportunities, then go back to the dorm and fight the tattooed tough guy or stop the artsy one from having a breakdown in the middle of the night. It took Qiao Ye a long time to fulfill the grand ambition he'd declared back then and break the curse of domestic idol groups never staying popular for long. But just as he achieved fame and found himself in the spotlight, the usually sharp-tongued tattooed tough guy pulled something unexpected. Blushing, he said he'd been in love with Qiao Ye all these years. Qiao Ye, who'd worked diligently to never let himself slip up as an idol: ? Fans can ship us all they want, but don't you dare believe it! [Official pairing: Qiao Ye x Cheng Xianglan] [Everyday life, a noisy, bickering journey with the group] Years later, a reporter interviewed the captain of SAS, whose fame had spread across the country. "It must have been tough leading a group of teammates who'd completely shattered the company's carefully crafted image not long after debut, and taking them from the bottom of the industry all the way to where you are now, right?" Qiao Ye: "It was all right, really. I only lost a few years off my life." (laughs bitterly) *Includes original worldbuilding: same-sex marriage is legal. *All characters are fictional. Please don't assume otherwise or start fights in the comments. *Blurb revised on 2023.11.30. Theme: Though we met when we were young and unknown, our hearts became inseparable, and our devotion endured through the years.