‘I really think you should reconsider that, Mingyu,’ Seokmin said as he watched Mingyu from behind his shoulder.

‘No,’ Minghao interrupted, watching from the other side of Mingyu’s shoulder, ‘The idea of blueberries, strawberries, cherries, chocolate, and pineapple is great. It’s bound to taste amazing.’

Seokmin tsked, ‘All of them are great alone, and some of them together, but this is too much.’

Minghao gruntled with dissatisfaction, ‘It’s Mingyu’s creation. If he wants blueberries, strawberries, cherries, chocolate, and pineapple, he get it all, and more if he wants to.’

‘Is that what you want?’ Seokmin asked, looking to the side view of Mingyu. ‘Mingyu, is that what you want in this cake?’

‘Of course it’s what he wants,’ Minghao answered, ‘He has all the ingredients in front of him. He plans to use all of them.’

‘But is it a good idea?’ Seokmin continued to ask.

‘All of Mingyu’s ideas are good,’ Minghao said, ‘Do you remember the coffee cake he made? It was delicious.’

‘He followed a recipe,’ Seokmin said with a huff, ‘Just like he should be doing now. Following a recipe. Do you know how mad Seungcheol is going to be when he finds out Mingyu wasted all these products.’

‘What do you mean waste? We’ll still eat it in the end, it won’t be wasted,’ Minghao said, glaring at Seokmin now.

‘You’re going to eat that?’ Seokmin asked with disbelief, “Even if it’s Mingyu’s baking, it’s still too much.’

Minghao half screamed out, ‘Because it’s Mingyu’s baking I’ll eat it. He’s my best friend, and I’ll support him in anything he does.’

Mingyu stops staring in frustration at the fruits he brought out and looks at Minghao, ‘You think of me as your best friend?’

‘N-no,’ Minghao tries to start all flustered, ‘You heard wrong. You’re a good coworker, and I support you.’

‘I’m pretty sure I heard best friend,’ Seokmin chimed in.

Mingyu grabbed Minghao who was trying to flee, ‘I accept. I’ll be your best friend.’

Being held down, Minghao couldn’t avoid the bone crushing hug Mingyu binds him in. After a second, Mingyu grabs Seokmin and joins him into the hug as well.

During their hug, Mingyu whispers with joy, ‘This cake is going to have blueberries, strawberries, cherries, chocolate, pineapple, oranges, and lemons. And it’s going to be amazing cause you guys are going to help me make it.’

‘It should go on the left side,’ Seungkwan said as he had his head tilted to the left. ‘It just looks better.’

‘Are you sure?’ Hansol replies, confusion written all over his face, ‘Seungcheol intrusted this task to me and I really think it looks better on the right side.’

‘Seungcheol asked me to make sure you were making the right decision,’ Seungkwan tells him.

‘If Seungcheol wanted me to make the right decision, then it should go on the right side like he would have wanted.’

Seungkwan couldn’t help but roll his eyes, ‘Seungcheol would have wanted it on the left side cause it looks better on the left side. Everyone can see it from there.’

‘But from the right side it joins in with all the other art pieces we have. It has a better flow. You don’t get art like me, Seungkwan. You should just leave it to experts like me.’

‘Where is your degree if you’re so amazing?’

‘At home, with my other degree of how good of a rapper I am.’

‘At home? How come I’ve never seen them before?’

‘You’re not allowed in my bedroom, just like I’m not allowed in your bedroom.’

‘Well, we should get rid of those rules. I need to see those degrees to believe your words.’

‘No,’ Hansol said while shaking his head.

‘No?’ Seungkwan repeated, clearly getting upset now, ‘Why are you trying to hide your degrees? Cause they aren’t real!’

‘There’s privacy for a reason,’ Hansol tells him.

‘If-if I let you into my bedroom first, can I go into yours then?’ Seungkwan asks as the tips of his ears turn red.

‘No,’ Hansol said without hesitation, and not noticing how flustered Seungkwan was becoming.

‘Why?’

The two were so busy bantering they didn’t noticed they were joined by a judging Seungcheol. ‘Are you guys done deciding where the picture should go?’

‘Seungcheol!’ Seungkwan said with a startle. ‘It’s good you’re here. We could use your help.’

Hansol starts his claim before Seungkwan could continue, ‘I said it would look better on the right, cause it would. But Seungkwan keeps insisting it would be better on the left.’

‘Cause it would look better on the left,’ Seungkwan said glaring at Hansol before smiling at towards Seungcheol, ‘Don’t you think it would look better on the left, Seungcheol?’

Seungcheol looked at the wall space and looked at the picture in question and said, ‘I think it should go in the middle. It would be perfect, cause then it captures everyone’s attention.’

‘Now that I am of age now we should all go drinking together,’ Chan said to the boys as they were cleaning up for the night.

‘No,’ Jeonghan said as he shook his head, ‘I will not allow our baby to drink.’

‘I’m of age though,’ Chan whined, ‘I’m not a baby anymore.’

‘You’ll always be his baby,’ Joshua said, smiling.

‘He’s my baby,’ Soonyoung said, banging through the backroom door, ‘and my baby will drink if he wants to.’

‘No, no, no,’ Seokmin comes in after Soonyoung, ‘Chan is my child and I will not allow any drinking.’

‘I don’t remember any of you people raising me,’ Chan tells them in outrage.

Jun stands up from his chair and scoffs, ‘How can you not remember all the food we bought you. All the times Wonwoo has cleaned your diapers. When Jihoon taught you how to ride a bike. Seungcheol giving you baths. Minghao teaching you how to walk. We raised you.’

‘Yeah,’ Minghao said, standing up too now, ‘Will you not appreciate all that we’ve done for you? I don’t teach anyone how to walk. You should feel lucky.’

‘No to drinking,’ Jihoon joined in.

‘I agree, no drinking,’ Wonwoo said from behind a book.

Seungcheol, who now only joins them, looks around with curiosity, ‘Why are you guys talking about drinking? Who is trying to drink?’

Chan sighs as he explained, ‘I wanted to drink with you guys since I’m of age, but everyone is saying no.’

Seungcheol furrows his eyebrows, ‘If our Channie wants to have a drink, we’ll allow you a sip. As your guardians and protectors, we have to watch over you.’

‘But I’m of age,’ Chan whined, ‘I should have the choice of drinking or not.’

‘As our baby though,’ Seungcheol countered, ‘We’re helping you decide whether it’s a good choice or not. And too much is never good. That’s why we’re allowing you to have a sip.’

At this point, the front door bursts open and three people walk through.

‘Have you guys closed the store down for the night?’ Mingyu screamed.

‘We brought the goods,’ Hansol tells them with a laugh.

‘Our baby Channie wanted some alcohol so we went and bought some,’ Seungkwan said, holding up a bag.

‘We’re not drinking in the store,’ Joshua said sternly.

‘Yeah,’ Seungcheol said, following suit, ‘At least wait till we get to someone’s house. There we will allow Channie to try a sip.’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: image credit : exxtramint

giving the dongsaeng line the spotlight they deserve. aka i don't write about them enough.