The boys all flop down on the hardwood floor, heaving oxygen into their lungs. They’ve been working hard for hours at trying to perfect the new choreo. The comeback is so close they can taste it, and they know it has to be the best thing they’ve done to date. The staff comes in with their lunches, and their instructors tell them they’ll be back in an hour to resume practice. The boys can barely wait until they’re left alone to continue the argument they started the night before.

“I can’t believe you’d dare say there was a better group than SISTAR,” Kihyun grumbles, his voice strained as it always is during a comeback. All the hours of practicing and recording have taken their toll on the main vocalist. “I’m gonna tell Soyou-noona after practice, and she’s gonna give you an earful.”

“Save your strength for our comeback concert, hyung,” Jooheon offers lamely, handing Kihyun a bottle of water. Kihyun ‘hmmphs’ under his breath, but complies with the rapper’s request anyway. He begrudgingly takes a long drink of water and stuffs his face with sandwich, leaning back against the wall for support.

“But they’ve disbanded,” Minhyuk points out, repeating his argument from the night before, “so they don’t count anymore. WJSN is cute, and their concepts are always really good.”

“I agree with Minhyukkie,” Hoseok comments around his mouthful of food, earning a grateful and side-hug from the younger. Hoseok chuckles wholeheartedly, and wraps a sweaty arm around his boyfriend.

“Of course you do,” Kihyun mutters under his breath, “you’re whipped.”

Hyungwon bursts out laughing at this, gasping hard as his sounds of mirth only serve to further strain his lungs.

“I actually like Dreamcatcher…” Changkyun mutters, earning a knowing chuckle from Jooheon. Honestly, their maknae is so free-spirited and full of life at times, but then at others he’s just too edgy for his own good.

“Can we just agree to disagree?” Hyunwoo sighs, leaning back on his hands after emptying yet another water bottle in a single gulp. He’d listened to his dongsaengs go back and forth on this for over an hour the night before, and he’s just about reached his breaking point. They usually bicker about unimportant things such as this, but Hyunwoo’s heard enough about this one in particular.

“No, because I’m right,” Minhyuk insists. He then bounces up, and sets his hands on his hips defiantly. “We need to settle this,” he announces before walking away from the others to the speaker. He plugs his phone in, and begins to scroll through something. “Whoever can perform their chosen group’s choreography the best wins in defending their honor, and they will be declared the best girl group. I go first since I came up with the idea.” He then starts up WJSN’s song ‘Catch Me’, taking up the starting position very easily as he’s seen it so many times.

They’re MONSTA X’s little sister group, after all. They need to make sure the company is taking care of them properly.

Minhyuk performs almost-impeccably… but he messes up the timing a bit on the hip pops. He overcompensates as he throws himself against the mirror to ily slide down onto the floor, but the screw up doesn’t go unnoticed by a smirking main vocalist…

Kihyun stands up as the final note of the song plays, waving Minhyuk off the makeshift performance area. He picks up the phone from the speaker and turns it to SISTAR’s ‘I Like That,’ but pauses for a moment. He turns to gesture at the two rappers, who confusedly stand up without a question.

“Take off your jackets,” he tells them. The two maknaes share a befuddled glance, but do as they’re told anyway. He pulls them closer, and whispers instructions to them. Minhyuk frowns suspiciously at this, but doesn’t question… yet. He doesn’t like the fact that his same-age friend has enlisted help, as he hadn’t thought to do so himself, but Hoseok’s firm hand on his arm placates him.

After a moment of deliberation, Kihyun starts the song as Jooheon and Changkyun comply with the older’s previous request. They get into position as the first note begins, and the others can’t help but sigh knowingly. Out of all the SISTAR routines, this one is Kihyun’s favorite to use to get his way.

Minhyuk only leans back on his hands as he rolls his eyes, already knowing he’s lost.

Jooheon and Changkyun watch their hyung’s reflection in the wall of floor-to-ceiling mirrors. The way he twists and turns his tiny yet muscular body, the almost sinful twist of his hips… it makes the rappers’ mouths go dry. They become so entranced by the vocalist’s movements that they even almost miss their cues a couple times… but they manage to get their heads back into the game. If they didn’t, Kihyun would only make them regret it later.

Once the vocalist finishes, Hyunwoo glances around the room with a raised brow.

“Anyone want to argue with that?” he asks, an amused smile contorting his features. The room is silent, and Kihyun ‘hmmphs’ with a sense of victorious finality. He pulls Jooheon and Changkyun back over to the food by the sleeves of their jackets. After sitting the boys down on either side of him, he leans towards them one at a time, giving a single message to them separately.

“When we get home, you’ll get a reward for doing such a good job helping your hyung~”

Jooheon and Changkyun share a knowing glance, each their lips nervously as they can only imagine what their favorite hyung might have in store for them.