Archive of Our Own

/ 8pm in Akita, Japan. /

He opened the door and was greeted by stillness in the air. Jihoon stood a metre away from Soonyoung who was sitting in the corner of the room, face red, eyes avoiding everyone's gaze.

Here goes nothing.

"Let's talk, Soonyoung."

"You don't need to be here."

"You know you don't want to prolong this matter."

"What if I do? You don't know everything about me." Soonyoung snapped.

Everyone in the room froze.

/ 4:45am in Tokyo, Japan. /

It was a chilly winter dawn. A group of 6 people were standing outside of a hotel, surrounded by luggages and cameras. By the string of yawns and eyes rubbing, it was apparent that most of them are still half awake, just like the shy ray of first light shining on Jihoon's closed eyes.

His body felt heavy, having just finished their last concert on the Japan tour 8 hours ago and had barely enough sleep. On contrary, his mind was at peace, borderline stoked at the idea of a vacation even though it was in the form of a shooting for a variety show.

Jeonghan and Wonwoo were going over the itinerary for the day for the camera when Seungcheol noticed a certain hamster lookalike missing from the crowd.

"Where is Hoshi?"

"Oh? Right, where is he?" Jeonghan chimed in, scanning around for signs of Soonyoung.

"He forgot something..." Jihoon yawned, his head resting on Jisoo's shoulders.

"Forgot what?"

"...There he is," Jihoon replied.

They heard thudding sound of footsteps and turned their heads to find Soonyoung jogging from the hotel entrance to their direction.

"Sorry, sorry," said Soonyoung, wearing a grin and his fluffy hat. "My ears get cold if I don't wear this."

"He goes missing every time, I tell you."

"Yah, not every time," Soonyoung bumped Jihoon's shoulder with his. "It was only that one time at KCON-"

"That 'one time' gave all of us a heart attack," Seungcheol said with a mock-stern look, earning Soonyoung's laugh.

"So! Now that we're all here," Jeonghan said, continuing with the shooting. "We need to get to the airport by cab, since that would be the fastest way."

"Oh, leader Yoon Jeonghan." Wonwoo exclaimed, prompting the group to produce a harmonised 'Oooh'.

The shooting for One Fine Day in Japan started yesterday, when they were 'ambushed' by the production team during the team dinner. They had split into two teams according to order of age, thus bringing Seungcheol, Jeonghan, Jisoo, Jun, Soonyoung, Wonwoo, and Jihoon into one team.

Their initial quest were to compete who can reach a certain spot in Akita first. By stroke of his usual luck, Jeonghan managed to get the team plane tickets from Tokyo to Akita, while the other team had to go with the train.

"Thank you leader Jeonghan for the plane ticket!" Jun exclaimed.

"What a nice start, right? I think today is going to be a good day." Soonyoung said as his body swayed left and right, bumping Jihoon again in process.

The latter did not complain, but instead smiled at Soonyoung's good mood. He knew just how much Soonyoung needed this so-called vacation too.

"Okay then, let's go!" Seungcheol prompted the group to carry their luggages and walk towards the row of silver cabs waiting for them.

They started loading the luggages into the trunk of the cabs when Jeonghan said, "I think we'll have to split 3-2-2? Since we'll need to go with at least one cameraman for each cab."

"You can use just 2 cars. One of you can join the staff van." The producer said. "Any takers?"

All 7 of them looked at each other before Jihoon raised his hand. "I'll do it."

"Okay, Woozi. Come this way then." The producer guided Jihoon to the black van parked at the other side of the road.

"Ah…" Soonyoung's words trailed off. He wanted to volunteer, but Jihoon beat him to it.

"Come on, Hosh. Let's hurry." Wonwoo patted his back, and to that Soonyoung climbed into the cab.

/ 5:05am in Narita Airport. /

"We're here."

"Ah, okay."

The van Jihoon was in slowly came to a halt. He put his phone into the pocket of his padded coat and stepped outside. He shuddered and quickly put on his hood to defend his neck from the chilly breeze. He walked to the back of the van as a staff passed him his luggage from the trunk.

"Thank you," Jihoon said as he extended the luggage's handle. "Now, where to?"

"We were the last to leave, so they should be here…" The producer looked around, Jihoon following suit. The area was rather barren, with only 3-4 cars present. No silver cabs in sight, and no sign of his noisy group mates either.

"...We're at the right place, right?"

Jihoon turned his head to the producer and chuckled. "You can't say that."

"Ah- no, no, don't worry. I will check." The producer nodded quickly, then shuffled through the papers on his hand.

Worried anyway, Jihoon grabbed his phone and opened the map app. He scrutinised the screen before noticing something odd.

"Seems like there are two drop-off areas in this airport. Three, if you count the one entry point in the basement."

"…Oh." The producer lifted his head, meeting Jihoon's eyes in unease.

"Let me contact the other PDs."

"Yeah, that would be wise." Jihoon gave him a reassuring smile.

As the producer was trying to reach his co-workers, Jihoon leaned his arms on the handle of his suitcase and started scrolling on his phone. He wondered if he should try to reach the members.

He decided to open the messaging app and navigated to the first chat on the list.

Just right after Jihoon sent the last message, his phone turned off. Of course. He reached his bag for his portable charger and hooked it into his phone.

"So.. Turns out they're at the east entrance. I thought I told them to use the south one because it's less used, so we won't hold people up..." The producer said, shaking his head. "Anyway. We should head there with the car. Let me take your luggage."

"Thank you hyung," Jihoon said, looking around once more before going into the van.

5 minutes later, they arrived at the east entrance. The area was busier since it was twice as big as the south entrance. At least a dozen cars were parked, and a lot of people were saying goodbyes or rushing to get inside of the airport.

Jihoon spotted people with cameras and lighting gears near the entrance door. He then hopped off the van and dragged his luggage towards the crowd.

"Hey, that's Woozi!" Jun started waving his arms, and the rest of the group turned to see Jihoon waving at them.

"Did you get lost?" Seungcheol joked.

"Took a detour," Jihoon answered while he flattened his luggage handle.

"Where is Hoshi?" Jeonghan asked.

Jihoon lifted his head and shot Jeonghan a confused look. "How should I know?"

"He ran off to the south entrance, told us he was going to pick you up."

"Oh no." Jihoon grabbed his phone and quickly turned it on.

"Did you guys miss each other?"

Jihoon didn't answer. He stared at his phone as he waited for it to boot.

"He ran like it was the olympics," Wonwoo said.

"Poor Hoshi, already working out this early…" Jisoo added.

The phone turned on. Jihoon tapped on the new message notification from Soonyoung.

"Ah, this dummy, really," Jihoon whined as he tapped Soonyoung's phone number to call. "Why does he have to be so quick at times like this?"

Jeonghan cheekily replied, "Of course because it's you," to which Jihoon responded with an eye roll.

The caller tone only rung once before Soonyoung picked up.

"Yah. I'm already here," Jihoon said.

"What?" Soonyoung replied. "I'm here too, where are you?"

"Why did you go there?"

"There where? Here? You said you were here."

"Just… Go back. I'm here. Where you were."

"Ah, Lee Jihoon."

"Run back here." Jihoon turned the phone off.

"Wow, what a conversation…" Jun said with amazement.

"You didn't tell him you were going here by car?" Seungcheol asked.

"I couldn't if I wanted to." Jihoon shook his head. "That guy, really."

/ 2pm in Akita, Japan. /

"Welcome to the team, Hoshi!"

Seokmin said to Soonyoung, who had just been traded for Seungkwan as the aftermath of an unanimous decision from everyone in the Hyung team.

They had been playing games ever since they arrived in Akita. The Dongsaeng team surprisingly won the first challenge despite having to travel by train, and it made the mood in the Hyung team quite bleak since everyone was feeling extra competitive that day. To add, the Hyung team has somehow adopted a dictator style of leadership, and Soonyoung wasn't really enjoying it all.

Well, that, and the fact Jihoon voted for him to be swapped out, too.

"Thanks, guys. The mood over there is just too severe, " said Soonyoung as he plopped down between Chan and Minghao, and the latter patted Soonyoung's hunched back.

"You've done well, Hoshi." Mingyu said.

"Ha, look at Seungkwan's face." Chan pointed to the other side of the room. Seungcheol and Wonwoo had their arms around Seungkwan, who looked like a lost little lamb. Soonyoung had to laugh at the sight.

"Anyway, now that I'm in this team…" Soonyoung rubbed his palms together. "I know something we can use against the other team."

"Oh, oh! What is it?" Chan scooted closer to Soonyoung.

"Do they have a Carat Bong?" Seokmin asked. "A wish coupon?"

The game introduced the use of a wish coupon attached to a Carat Bong, hidden at specific places throughout their journey. Before Soonyoung got traded, the Hyung team discovered one that could give an interesting twist for the show.

"That's right." Soonyoung nodded and pointed to Seokmin. "What's interesting is… It allows them to exchange the team money with ours, and that they are planning to spend all of it before using the wish coupon."

"Wow, that's too mean," Hansol said while shaking his head.

"Then… We should spend all of our money too!" Seokmin said brightly.

"So that they won't have any money left either!" Chan chimed in.

"Oh, that's a good idea?" Soonyoung exchanged high fives with Seokmin and Chan.

"What do we spend it on, though?" Minghao scratched his head.

"Let's make it funny," Mingyu said." Hoshi, buy a kiss from me!"

Imagining how the other team would react, everyone laughed at the idea (except for Minghao who was cringing to death). Soonyoung clapped like a seal, wondering what Jihoon would have thought about the absurd turn of event.

"OK! Hoshi will be buying Mingyu's kiss for 30,000 won." Chan said.

"Oh, that's one expensive kiss." Hansol said.

Mingyu leaned in and kissed Soonyoung's right cheek. Everyone exploded in response, followed by Minghao shushing everyone so they don't give away what was going on. The Hyung team was looking at the Dongsaeng team with confused faces before shrugging their shoulders, thinking nothing of it.

/ 7pm in a hotel at downtown Akita, Japan. /

After a day full of games and commuting, both teams had made the hotel as their last stop. The Dongsaeng team was gathered in a room, some sitting by the heater, some sprawled across the tatami floor.

"Ah, so tired…" Seokmin said while wiggling around on the floor, trying to remove his padded coat.

"Are we done with shooting? Can we go to sleep?" Chan whined to Soonyoung, who was putting his jacket on a hanger.

"Did you forget already? We still have one mission left."

Soonyoung's words made Chan jolt up. "Ah, right! The Hyung team…"

"I wonder when they are going to do it." Hansol said.

"Now now, everyone." Mingyu clapped his hands to gain everyone's attention. "Please do your best to keep your straight faces, okay?"

"Seokmin, you… Don't try to act, and just stay put." Minghao said to Seokmin. The latter nodded with a serious face before breaking down in laughter.

"Ah, I need to do mind control." Chan did a meditating pose with his eyes closed.

"…What if they got mad?" Hansol said out of the blue.

"I don't think they will?" Seokmin said.

"Eh, I don't think so…" Soonyoung said as doubts started filling his head. "…right?"

Just as Soonyoung finished talking, the door to the room opened and Seungcheol was standing there, the rest of the team behind him.

"We can come in, right?" Seungcheol threw a rhetorical question to the room.

"Sure, sure!" Mingyu blurted out as everyone started to shift around, making room for the Hyung team.

"Oh, but why is the mood slightly intimidating?" Soonyoung mumbled while he glanced at Jihoon, whose face was unreadable.

After everyone had settled down, Wonwoo cleared his throat and presented a Carat Bong to the room.

"So, we're going to use this."

Without missing a beat, Soonyoung took out his team's wallet and said, "Please use it."

The Dongsaeng team tried their best to keep their poker faces, while the Hyung team didn't expect such laid-back reaction from the other team. Soonyoung shrugged his shoulders as he put the wallet on the table.

"Did you guys hide your money?" Seungcheol asked.

"No, we just spent it all." Chan said point-blank.

"All of it?" Jeonghan asked.

Seungcheol grabbed the wallet and opened it to find a coin worth of 10 won inside it. He shook his head and said, "Ah, this can't be it. I'm 100% sure you hid the money."

"We spent all of it though?" Mingyu said.

"Where did you spend it?" Jihoon asked while looking at Mingyu.

"I bought Mingyu's kiss for 30,000 won." Soonyoung pointed to his cheek as he earned a glance from Jihoon. The latter tilted his head, his eyebrows furrowed. Seeing Jihoon's reaction, Soonyoung almost broke into a smile when Seungcheol threw the wallet back to the table and said, "You guys are too much."

The mood in the room turned cold.

"You can't do that," Jeonghan added. "You need to show the receipts."

"Yeah, we have receipts for all of our expenses." Jun chimed in.

Everyone in the Hyung team continued to exclaim how the 'purchase' was not valid, pointing fingers at the other team. Soonyoung looked around and saw everyone on the Dongsaeng team's face slowly fell, afraid to say anything.

Ah, this is not it.

"Why are you guys like this? You're scaring everyone," Soonyoung spoke, his words sterner than usual. "Fine, we'll give you the money." He then motioned his hands to Seokmin, who unwillingly reached for his pocket and took out the 30,000 won.

Soonyoung grabbed the money and put it into the wallet. He flung it to the table and said, "There, your money."

Everyone was taken aback by Soonyoung's actions. Jeonghan exchanged the other team's wallet with theirs, which Seokmin grabbed to check the money left inside.

"See? They hid their money," said Seungcheol who was trying to lighten the mood. "You can't do that, kids."

His words were met with silence.

"Let's go now." Wonwoo broke the stillness and grabbed the Carat Bong.

"Okay then, we're leaving." Jeonghan stood up with the others, making way to the door.

"Wow, amazing.. The wallet is completely empty." Seokmin got the receipts out of the wallet and started reading. "They really spent 27,000 won at once..."

"Really? There's nothing left?" Mingyu hovered above Seokmin to get a peek. The others in Dongsaeng team were sat motionless, looking at each other, not knowing what to do.

"Forget it," said Soonyoung. "Ah, so annoying."

Soonyoung slammed the floor pillow under the table, producing an unintentional loud bang, though he didn't mind that it did.

Alarmed, Jihoon stopped his tracks and glanced at Soonyoung who was pacing around the room, fuming. He was about to say something, but decided not to and followed the Hyung team into their room.

/ 8pm in a hotel at downtown Akita, Japan. /

Jihoon entered the Hyung's room to find everyone sitting in silence. The event that had just transpired seemed to kept everyone deep in thoughts, Jihoon included. He was pretty upset himself.

We were just pretending to be serious, but why was Soonyoung so pissed off? It couldn't be just because of this money thing… Was there something else?

"I almost bursted too, just now." Seungcheol spoke up. "Hoshi was getting seriously angry, it almost got to me."

"I noticed. The mood was really bad." Jeonghan said.

"You know… It's very unlike Hoshi to get mad over something this trivial," Jisoo wondered. "Do you know what's up with him, Woozi?"

Jihoon turned to Jisoo, who was then looking at him, as everyone else in the room was.

"I'm…not sure." Jihoon said.

"Can you do me a favour?" Seungcheol asked Jihoon.

"Hm?"

"Can you check up on Hoshi? I'd like to, but I feel like if he sees me he'll just get even more pissed." Seungcheol chuckled, but his wistful eyes were saying otherwise.

"Yeah, please do so if it's okay, Woozi." Jeonghan added.

"Sure. I was about to anyway." Jihoon waved weakly to everyone in the room before leaving.

As he made his way back to the other room, Jihoon was deliberating on the best approach to this situation. In all honesty, he had zero clue on why Soonyoung was the way he was just now. Jihoon tried to recall the things that happened today. He couldn't pinpoint anything that would ruin Soonyoung's mood - the shooting went well, games were fun, food ammunition was aplenty, and he didn't forget to bring his fluffy hat so his ears wouldn't be frozen - instead, Jihoon remembered how Soonyoung was saying that he thinks today was going to be a good day.

This is definitely no one's definition of a good day.

Jihoon stopped his tracks in front of Soonyoung's room. He inhaled deeply before going in.

He opened the door and was greeted by stillness in the air. Everyone in the Dongsaeng team and Seungkwan was still there, all looking at Jihoon. Jihoon stood a metre away from Soonyoung who was sitting in the corner of the room, face red, eyes avoiding everyone's gaze.

Here goes nothing.

"Let's talk, Soonyoung."

"You don't need to be here."

"You know you don't want to prolong this matter."

"What if I do? You don't know everything about me." Soonyoung snapped.

Everyone in the room froze. While it was not unusual for the two to bicker, it was unheard for Soonyoung to raise his voice with Jihoon. At least, not in front of other people.

There goes everything.

"Come on, let's talk it out."

"Okay, sure." Soonyoung jerked to his feet. "What do you want to talk about? The fact that your team can't seem to take a joke? Or the fact that you wanted to take all of our money?"

Soonyoung looked at Jihoon in the eyes for a second before he looked away, breaking off the eye contact.

Everyone else took it as the cue to leave. As they were scurrying away, Seungkwan managed to whisper 'Fighting~' to Jihoon's ear.

Jihoon let out a long breath before replying. "We didn't mean it. We also intended for it to be a joke."

"The younger members were excited, thinking you guys would be amused." Soonyoung scoffed. "Instead we got the cold shoulder."

"We were surprised too, that's why everyone reacted that way," said Jihoon who tried his best to keep his tone down. "We were going to share the stuff we bought with all of our money after the whole thing."

"So what's the point of doing it to begin with, then?"

"…Well, we just thought it would be funny, and-"

"Did you really think it was a good idea? Especially after a long day like today?" Suddenly, Soonyoung's glare turned dull, almost sad. Jihoon raised his eyebrows and tried to process his thoughts.

"What do you mean?" He said instead.

"What do I mean? Let's see. First thing in the morning you got me worried when you got lost. Then you switched me out for Seungkwan and had a jolly good time with the team without me. Even had the time to think of playing tricks with us which was not even remotely funny."

Soonyoung swallowed hard, surprised at his own storm of words, as did Jihoon.

"Wait- I didn't know you were upset about the swapping."

"Well, try having everyone on your team voting to kick you out. Feels pretty amazing," said Soonyoung, hint of sarcasm was evident from his choice of words.

"...I thought you weren't enjoying the team. The whole dictator leadership thing," Jihoon said. "That's why I voted for you, so you don't need to deal with it. You have been feeling tired from the first day of tour in Tokyo, so... I want you to be able to have fun even though this isn't a real vacation."

Gears inside Soonyoung's brain started to turn. Hold up. Did I misunderstood his intentions? 

Soonyoung tried to speak, but words were stumbling out of his mouth instead. "Uh.. Yeah, t-that's true. But still-"

"And I was going to make up for what happened this morning," Jihoon cut Soonyoung's words off and continued to speak matter-of-factly. "I bought you packs of sushi for our late night snacks. That's why we spent that much money earlier."

Shit. Was it all just in my head?

"And about the money exchange thing…I told them it was a bad idea."

Soonyoung looked up to be met by Jihoon's weightless gaze. "You did?"

Jihoon huffed and said, "Yeah. Felt icky about it. But everyone insisted because they wanted to do something interesting, you know, for the show."

"But you didn't say anything."

Jihoon thought about the situation earlier and recalled how conflicted he was feeling. On one side, he didn't want to interrupt what was going on, afraid he would make it even worse. On the other side, his head hurt seeing Soonyoung looking so distraught.

"I was going to, but you slammed the table, scaring everyone away."

"Still, you should've said something," Soonyoung mumbled with a pout, hinting Jihoon that his anger had started to subside.

"Why did it bother you this much?" Jihoon asked instead.

Soonyoung didn't answer.

"…It's okay. Just get angry at me. I can take it. Just don't take it out on anyone else. I don't want them misunderstanding you."

Jihoon's words rendered Soonyoung speechless. All day, Soonyoung had been feeling dejected at the turn of events. He really thought Jihoon was deserting him, as dramatic as it may sound. He could care less about the group's dynamics - he was just sour at the fact that he wasn't in the same team as Jihoon anymore. He could care less about the money - he was just upset at Jihoon not being on his side.

Turns out I was the fool all along. Me, Kwon Soonyoung, the ultimate dumbass.

"...I won't. I'm sorry. That I snapped at you even when it's not your fault," said Soonyoung, gaze locked to the floor.

"I've seen you at your worst. This is nothing." Jihoon let out a short chuckle. "We've known each other for 6 years now, don't you think it's given?"

To Jihoon's words, Soonyoung's mind flew back to moments when they were younger - moments he was not proud of. Back then, his perfectionism used to get the best of him many times. His ego, uncontrollable, and unwelcome to those he lashed out to.

Jihoon was always there. Not only to witness, but also to listen and console. Of course, there were times too when they would butt heads, when some fights turned physical. But amongst everyone Soonyoung had clashed with, Jihoon was the first to understand his nature. To realise that all Soonyoung ever needed was an outlet for him to bare his emotions. From Jihoon, Soonyoung was able to learn how to restrain himself better - though tonight was a setback.

"I know I don't mind," Jihoon continued through Soonyoung's absence of speech. "But the others are so confused right now since they've never seen you get angry in front of the camera."

"Right. Of course... They must have been so surprised. Ah, I'm such a fool," said Soonyoung as he hit his head with his palm repeatedly. Jihoon moved closer and grabbed Soonyoung's wrist, stopping the motion.

"Let's not damage your head. I still need it from time to time." Jihoon said gently.

Soonyoung felt his cheeks warming, though not from anger this time. He shook his head and quickly stood up, releasing Jihoon's grip in process.

"Can you...accompany me to apologise to everyone?"

Jihoon smiled seeing Soonyoung's reaction and nodded.

"Yeah, of course."

/ 1pm the next day at a restaurant in Akita, Japan. /

It was a warm winter day. For the final segment, all thirteen of them were gathered in a small room of a restaurant in Akita. Having gotten their well-deserved rest, everyone was at their best mood as if nothing had happened the night before. Well, other than him, Jihoon thought as he watched Soonyoung reacting timidly to anyone interacting with him. He must still feel sorry about last night. Maybe I should help?

After a few more moments of Soonyoung-watching, Jihoon looked at the producer who had shouted "camera roll!" and started briefing the team.

"So...yesterday we've got an episode," said the producer, poking fun at Soonyoung, who gave a sheepish smile.

"It's okay, we've talked it out. It was my fault too." Seungcheol said.

"It was no one's fault, we were just tired after a long day. No hard feelings, right?" Jeonghan added, looking around at everyone in the room who nodded back at Jeonghan.

"I'm sorry, everyone..." Soonyoung whispered, earning pats on the back, head, and butt from all directions.

"Glad to hear that," said the producer. "Now, we have prepared the last game segment that might be fitting to wrap up yesterday's happening."

"Ooh, does it have anything to do with these?" Seokmin pointed at the walkie-talkies on the table.

"Yes. It's called the Avatar Game. Two people will be chosen to be the avatars. Then, the rest will control everything they say and do, to try and get the two people to get along better."

The statement got everyone murmuring in excitement. Suggestions were thrown almost instantly, such as "Jeonghan-Mingyu polar opposites would be interesting!", "What about oldest-youngest, S.Coups and Dino?", "Let's do sworn enemies, Seungkwan-Mingyu!", and "Seems like you don't get along with everyone that well, huh Mingyu?"

Everyone was laughing when Mingyu sneaked up one suggestion in response: "Hoshi and Woozi, go?"

For a second everyone paused and looked at each other, before responding in unison: "Go!!"

Baffled, Soonyoung looked around at the excited faces staring at him. "B- but, Woozi and I get along well..?"

"Ah, but last night was…" Chan shook his head.

"It was intense, ladies and gentlemen." Seungkwan added. "Let's use this opportunity to talk about, ahem, suppressed feelings and whatnot..?"

Everyone nodded and clapped as they ushered Soonyoung and Jihoon out of the room.

Oh, no. Soonyoung's eyes widened in horror. Oh, no. Jihoon is going to hate this. Especially since I didn't go to his room to eat the sushi he'd bought for me last night. If only Seungcheol didn't insist on having a long talk with me so I don't feel bad-

"Soonyoung?"

Jihoon's voice snapped Soonyoung back into reality. He had been spacing out in front of the room while the producer and Jihoon were already walking away from him.

"Oh- sorry, sorry." Soonyoung caught up with them and walked along side Jihoon in silence.

Shoot, this is so awkward. What do I say?

"Ah... These kids, really," Soonyoung decided to say while laughing nervously. "I don't get why they're doing this. Mingyu and Jeonghan would be a more interesting pair. We wouldn't be fun for the show since we don't have much to say... Right?" Soonyoung nudged Jihoon's arm with his.

Jihoon didn't reply. He offered a small, unreadable smile instead. That and the fact that he had unusually zero complaint with what was going on was enough to make Soonyoung starting feeling dizzy.

The producer opened the door to a room, and gestured for Soonyoung and Jihoon to enter. They found themselves in a private room for two. A table, two floor pillows, and two cups of tea.

"Please sit over here," the producer said while distributing a pair of earphones attached to a walkie-talkie. "One of you can use this to hear the instructions. So, who first?"

"I'll do it." Jihoon glanced at Soonyoung who was then sat across him. "Is it cool?"

"...Oh- Yeah, sure, you go first," Soonyoung said, scratching his itchless head.

"You can start whenever after you're set up with the walkie-talkie."

Jihoon picked up the walkie-talkie and put an earphone on his right ear, which allowed him to hear murmurs and laughters from the other room. He pondered on his next action and almost let out a smile, but managed to keep a poker face as he listened to the instruction from the producer.

On the other side, Soonyoung was fidgeting with his teacup on the table as he stole glances at Jihoon. Between yesterday's misunderstanding, unintentionally standing Jihoon up, and this Avatar Game, Soonyoung was not sure which one caused him to feel this uneasy towards Jihoon.

Sighing, Soonyoung took another look at Jihoon and froze when he found Jihoon staring back at him.

Please don't be anything weird, please don't be anything weird, please-

"Ddunyoung-ie, why are you so nervous?"

Soonyoung's jaw dropped.

Jihoon, still unfazed by the damage caused by his brute aegyo, listened into his earphone before continuing.

"Why? Do I make you nervous?"

"Huh...? No, I'm not nervous!!" Soonyoung exclaimed. "Yo- you just caught me off guard.."

"Hoshi-yah, don't get mad again. It breaks my heart." Jihoon said. Beneath the nauseating cutesy voice, Soonyoung caught Jihoon sounding somehow sincere with those words. Still, Soonyoung didn't manage to get words out except for a stuttered "S-sure.."

Jihoon smiled at Soonyoung's response. He paused, listening to his earphones before continuing.

"But, honestly... You acting jealous like that was pretty cute."

What. Am. I. Hearing?

".......What?"

Jihoon scrunched his face as he heard his members laughing uncontrollably, almost deafening his ears.

"Well, it's not entirely false," said Jihoon in normal voice. "To me, it was cute, but to the others it was pretty scary. Please don't do that again."

"Ah, I'm so sorry!! So sorry everyone," Soonyoung waved to the camera and the staff as well, while his brain was still trying to process what Jihoon had just said.

"Next time, just tell me. Tell me if something that I do bothers you. It's not very you to keep things to yourself." Jihoon said, ignoring the instructions from the members.

Soonyoung's gaze fell down to his feet. "…Okay. Next time I'll just tell you. I'm also not sure why I kept things from you."

"Yeah, you're keeping a lot of things from me lately."

What? That's not true, Soonyoung thought as his lips formed a pout. "Like what?"

Without missing a beat, Jihoon replied, "Like the fact that you like me."

Soonyoung lifted up his head to find Jihoon with a straight face.

"Is it not?" Jihoon said, still ignoring the instructions, now combined with inhumane sounds and inexplicable noises from 11 grown men blasting through the earphone.

Soonyoung watched as Jihoon's lips were slowly building into a smile.

Well, I'll be damned if he didn't know every single thing about me, after all.

/ /