Beware questions.

Things weren’t going as he expected them to, if anything, they were following the “worst case scenario” route.

Chanwoo eyed warily the three hyungs in front of him, talking and laughing about God knows what and then, stealthily, glanced at the other hyung by his side, looking attentively at his phone. He sighed. If he was honest with himself, he had no idea how he ended up there, surrounded by delicious and juicy meat he couldn’t eat, hyungs he couldn’t talk to and a phone he couldn’t use. However, if he was honest with himself, he did know how he ended up in such a bad situation; he just didn’t want to acknowledge it.

As Mino picked the sixteenth piece of meat Chanwoo had just put on the grill less than a minute ago, the younger groaned internally. His easygoing hyung grinned at him childishly before swallowing it and turning to laugh at an obnoxious joke Jiwon had told.

Chanwoo suppressed the urge die. He hated to admit that Donghyuk was right but… how he wished he had followed his advice and stayed home. If just he could eat a single piece of that precious meat… Why was life so cruel to him?!

The boy gave in to his disastrous fate as he cut more meat to put on the grill—was Mino (and Hanbin) starving to death or he (they) just didn’t know when to stop?

It to be the youngest sometimes. Ok, technically, he was the most adorable wherever he went and Jinhwan babying him was somewhat nice sometimes, but it didn’t overshadow his other duties as the maknae. He had to put up with Hanbin’s short temper, moodiness, whining and perfectionism, Junhoe’s unpredictability, Jinhwan’s overprotectiveness and oddly motherly behavior, Yunhyeong and Donghyuk’s clinginess, and Jiwon’s entire existence—in addition, he had to deal with all of that while being everyone's private slave!

He wondered if that was why Seungri-hyung always spilled his hyungs’ secrets on TV shows; maybe it was some sort of payback. Then again, he doubted any of the BIGBANG hyungs would ever ignore his maknae so blatantly. Or make him cook the meat so he would be so busy he would not have time to eat it. Or receive an invitation from their sunbaes and invite their maknae just to make him a slave of their wishes. Or just downright ignore him to death while having the best time of their lives right in front of him!

It did sound like he was bitter, right? Ha ha ha, Chanwoo was not bitter. Never. Please, he was perfectly fine with all that.

“You are tearing the meat apart, Chanwoo-ah,” His head jerked to his side so fast that he was sure he could have died from it. He eyed his hyung with big eyes full of surprise.

“Wha?”

Seungyoon looked at him for the first time since they entered the restaurant; eyes so welcoming, it was kind of weird. The older boy smiled at him, putting his phone aside and taking the scissors from Chanwoo’s hands before said boy could even blink.

The youngest looked down at the mess he made on the grill.

Ok. He was a little bit bitter.

“That was expensive so let’s not waste it, ok?” Chanwoo couldn’t help but blush at the softness of Seungyoon’s tone, even though the sentence itself was quite harsh. It was like being slapped by the softest of the plumes.

“I-I’m sorry, Seungyoon-ssi,” the boy replied sheepishly, cheeks burning. “I’ll be more careful from now on.”

Chanwoo shifted uncomfortably on his seat as Seungyoon smiled at him, waving his apologies away with a simple nod. His hyung turned to the grill, carefully cooking the meat.

The younger one watched stiffly, not really knowing what to do. He was still quite awkward with some of the WINNER members—mainly the two youngest, Taehyun and Seungyoon. They did meet sometimes and they were all polite and all, but he couldn’t bring himself to talk to them as they were old friends. WIN happened before Mix & Match, after all.

Of course, Chanwoo was going to be a good maknae, as always. He would tell his hyung that it was his duty as the youngest to grill the meat and that Seungyoon could go back to his phone. However, he wasn’t feeling like being that nice so he let the other take care of it all.

It didn’t last long. In fact, he was about to get his first piece of meat of the night when Hanbin looked straight at him and then at Seungyoon and frowned. It was his hint to give in to his maknae duties.

“Hum, Seungyoon-ssi... It’s okay. I can grill the meat,” the boy mumbled quietly, making sure to look and sound as polite as ever.

The leader looked at him for a second and then smirked slightly. “We can’t have you ruining this precious meat, can we?”

Chanwoo gawked at him, praying that Hanbin hadn’t heard it or he wouldn’t be able to live for the following week. “I-I—”

Seungyoon grinned and patted the younger’s head. “Don’t worry, I’m just messing with you,” He then proceeded to put some pieces of meat on Chanwoo’s plate. What a blessed hyung Seungyoon was, the younger appraised. “Here, have some. I know for sure you haven’t been able to eat yet.”

The younger smiled widely, barely containing his urge to worship his hyung right there. He nodded dumbly, grabbing some pieces of meat without hesitation and stuffing his mouth with it.

He wasn’t that proud of the moan that came out right away but it didn’t matter, he was stomach too happy to care.

“Thanks, Seungyoon-hyung! You’re really nice!”

Seungyoon pouted. “So now I am your hyung?”

“Yah, Seungyoon-ah! Why are you roasting the meat?! Give it back to Chanwoonie, you at this.” Mino boasted before Chanwoo could react properly to Seungyoon’s words; he did have the decency to look embarrassed, though. The rapper seemed personally attacked by Seungyoon’s actions.

Chanwoo saw Seungyoon roll his eyes, snorting at his teammate nonchalantly.

“So why are you still eating it, Mino-ssi?” the leader shot back acidly, piercing daggers through Mino’s head with his eyes. “And stop eating like a pig; we have a comeback shoot in less than 2 days!”

“Your words hurt my heart, Seungyoonie,” He turned to the boy next to him, exaggerating his expressions. “Jiwonnie, isn’t he so mean?”

Seungyoon scoffed. “As if I care. Now stop eating!”

Chanwoo smiled slightly as he eyed the two bicker over the food. He carefully got two more pieces of meat before Hanbin shot him another look and he was forced to get back at grilling again.

“We too have a comeback shoot soon so don’t eat too much, understand?” he heard his leader warn promptly.

The boy nodded absentmindedly, he didn’t even try to argue that, unlike some people, he did not have time to eat anything properly. He sighed again. It was a mistake tagging along.

Seungyoon gave him a sympathetic look as he passed the grill duty to him. The younger one smiled a little, dying inside as he could be doing something productive at the dorm—he could be laying around or messing with Junhoe’s hair or, you know, not being ignored by his own hyungs.

Their night was over as soon as the last pieces of meat were being grilled. Chanwoo didn’t know if he was happy or not, he doubted there would be anything else to eat at the dorm anyway.

The boy hadn’t eaten much more than what Seungyoon managed to give him and his stomach was not happy about it. The WINNER leader did try to save some as he refused to give Mino anything else, but Hanbin was quick enough to eat it all. It didn’t help that Jiwon took as his task to devour every single thing at the restaurant either. Mino was a little bit tipsy after one or three bottles of soju and his hunger just got bigger.

The maknae cooked the last pieces of meat cautiously; he could feel the three pairs of eyes focusing on the grill. He wouldn’t risk his hand at that soon-to-be battle of chopsticks. Seungyoon looked remarkably annoyed by his teammate’s behavior.

“Chanwoo-ah,” He turned to Seungyoon’s calm voice, eyeing him curiously. “I saved some for you~”

As the singer unfolded a plate full of meat, Chanwoo shed some tears. He cracked up an emotional smile. His hyung was so thoughtful… It was as if God Himself had sent Seungyoon to take care of him. Oh, he was so grateful.

“T-thanks, hyung,” the boy couldn’t even utter a word; he was too immersed on that plate tempting him. “I-I—”

He was about to grab it all and vacuum it into his stomach when Seungyoon pushed the plate away, his face carefully blank.

“What’s wrong?” he asked confused, hunger speaking louder than his brain or his instinct.

Chanwoo ignored the slight smirk covering Seungyoon’s face—he shouldn’t have, though—, his eyes were twinkling in a twisted way.

“You know, Chanwoo-ah,” Seungyoon smiled at him slyly. The younger could swear that he was planning something. “Can you answer me something before I give all of this delicious, juicy and expensive meat?”

The boy nodded right away, smiling and all. His mouth was watering. “Anything for you, hyung~”

“Who’s your favorite?” Chanwoo cocked his head to the side, confused. “Between me and Hanbin, who do you like better?”