Several hours later…

                “I am not eating it if he bleeds in it.” Siwon protested.  It didn’t matter how mild mannered he was, blood in food was a deal breaker for anyone.  Youngjae had assigned six people to kitchen duty for lunch since preparing the food blindfolded would take significantly longer.  Siwon and Luhan, JR and Jongup, and Minho and Hoya each had protested to being paired together, but that was really the point.  Since food was on the line, the other boys would eventually join in forcing the teams to cooperate with one another.

                “Then you should make sure you give precise instructions so that he doesn’t bleed.  Whatever is fixed is what gets eaten.  You don’t want blood in it, then you three make sure those three understand what it is they are supposed to be doing.  Those knives look pretty sharp.” Youngjae said nonchalantly, exiting the room. 

                “I don’t want to be cuuut!” he heard Luhan whine before he was out of earshot.  He had paired Luhan with Siwon in hopes the older could help the younger calm down and focus on his technique.  Unfortunately he just seemed to be grating on Siwon’s nerves.  Minho had his hands full trying to get Hoya to follow the instructions he was given.  Despite the blindfold, Hoya still assumed he was lord and master.  Not even walking into the sapling had diminished his determination to ignore or slightly deviate from Minho’s instructions.  Perhaps the kitchen was just the place for him to learn his lesson, although Youngjae really had no desire to have blood in his food either. 

                Turning the corner, he collided with a hard chest – just the hard chest he had been avoiding all day.  Luckily for Youngjae, the man was blindfolded and had no way to determine who had just bumped into him.  Unfortunately, whenever he had imagined him blindfolded, it had not involved giving him instructions or having him in the care of someone else.  His fantasies never really involved words at all actually.

                “Sorry, Youngjae, didn’t mean to make him run into you.” Immediately Seunghyun’s body visibly tensed, and he took a small step back, away from him.  Youngjae bit his bottom lip, nodding to himself while quelling the sudden urge to beat Kris to within an inch of his life.  Rolling his eyes at himself and his issues, he opted to smile instead of cry.

                “No problem.  Sometimes you bump into stuff in life.  Move on and forget about it.” To his own ears he sounded bitter.  Kris was looking at him strangely and even TOP’s head was cocked to the side in bewilderment.  Feeling the heat suffuse his face, he merely nodded to Kris and walked off, leaving the two men standing there, puzzled.

                Lunch probably would not be ready for a few hours since a couple of the men were horrible at giving specific instructions while some of the other either were bad at following instructions or simply refused.  It would take a while for them to get used to working through the eyes of another member.  He squeaked when arms s around his shoulders from behind without warning.

                “Why didn’t I get blindfolded?” Yongguk rest his head on his shoulder, his lower lip pushed out in a pout and his eyes reminiscent of a sad puppy.  Youngjae cocked an eyebrow at him.

                “Surprisingly enough, you seem to be the peacemaker.  Did you want to be blindfolded?”

                A devilish spark entered his chocolate eyes, and his pout transformed into his blinding smile, his perfectly shaped lips turning up at the corners.  “Depends who is doing the blindfolding.”

                Good lord, it didn’t matter that the man had become one of his best friends since he had become involved with the group, he was gorgeous when he smiled.  The way his eyes sparkled and his face lit up would be completely impossible for anyone except Bang Yongguk.  Shaking his head of the thoughts, he pushed him away.  “Ugh, you’re impossible.  Go do something.”

                “What am I supposed to do?  It’s going to be time for dinner before anyone even gets lunch, and you know it.  And you!  What were you thinking putting Kris in charge of TOP?  Have you lost your mind?” He followed him closely, ignoring his right to personal space.

                “What do you mean?  What’s wrong with Kris being in charge of Seunghyun?” Kris was generally well-behaved and paid attention to the fact that his actions had consequences.  Hmm…maybe he should have paired him with Hoya?  Hoya had refused to follow instructions no matter what Minho tried to get him to do.  Although Youngjae had found it extremely satisfying to watch Hoya walk seemingly carefree into the small tree, he needed to learn to trust his hyungs.  There were several group members that actually paid attention to what their actions instead of assuming that their actions only impacted them and not the rest of the group.  He thought he had balanced it out well, but maybe not.  His eyes locked on Bang who was now walking slightly ahead of him.  Maybe he could help him at the same time. 

                “Think about it.  You put the most stoic member of the group with the machine of the group.  You can’t tell me that you didn’t think about that when you made these arrangements.” Youngjae stopped in his tracks, completely stunned.  How had he not realized that?  He couldn’t stop himself from bursting out laughing.  Maybe he had been thinking about what happened the night before when he made the arrangements.  Kris would certainly be the one to help him lose his inhibitions and come out of that damn hell. 

                Bang was looking at him as though he had lost his mind.  “Why do you find that funny?”

                Still laughing, he couldn’t find a way to answer without filling him in on what had transpired the night before.  Eh, he thought he would be okay with it so he went ahead and told him what had happened.  Once he finished and took note of Bang’s expression, though, he was confused.  Bang looked pissed.  “Uh, what’s wrong?”

                Yongguk shook his head, lips thinned, and waved a hand at him dismissively.  “I can’t talk to you right now.”

                Staring at his retreating back, Youngjae was left standing in stunned silence.