"Come on, up you get~"

The covers were ripped from you, the blinds flashed open suddenly, the offending light rushing over your body. You groaned loudly, two icy hands wrapped around your forearms to pull you from the soft mattress and into the boys warm chest. You gripped onto his shirt, silently pleading for five more minutes of sleep. 

"Please Yoonie~"

He chuckled lightly, bringing his arms up to wrap them around your neck.

"Nope, you've got to get ready, go on~"

He bumped his chin on your head a few times before pushing you into the bathroom. 

Freshly-showered and now very much awake, you made your way into the living room, where the boys were lazily strewn over the furniture, several half-empty bowls of porridge scattered around. You chuckled, scooping up the fullest bowl and squeezing yourself between the arm of the sofa and a sweetly-smiling Jinwoo. As you continued to eat the boys gradually rose, busying themselves with dishes, tending to Gaehyo and even polishing your viola. Finally, they stole away the empty bowl and set themselves on you. Seunghoon and the maknae began to generously slap moisturiser onto your grimacing face, Jinwoo tugged a hoodie over you, patting out the creases whilst Seung Yoon pushed a pair of trainers onto your feet. Your head was tugged back, a brush scraping your thick hair close to your scalp. You glanced up to see Mino, struggling with a hairband between his teeth. He caught your chuckle, shrugging as he transferred the band to his fingers for the third time.

"For goodness sake, I'm going to shave your head after this"

He snorted, pulling the elastic tightly over your locks, setting it in a high ponytail. The preening stopped, you were dragged to your feet as they congregated on the mat, nodding proudly at the product of their endeavours. You stole a glance at your reflection and gave an approving smile as you returned your gaze to them.

"Hwaiting!"

They hollered in unision, shuffling you towards the door. Mino carried the orange case under his arm, his grip loose enough for you to worry about the instruments safety. You shook off those thoughts, right now you needed to focus on summoning courage.

***

You took a sharp intake of breath, eyes drifting from the door of the studio to look nervously at the boys.

"I'm so nervou-"

"You'll do great! Go on, we'll wait out here for you!"

Jinwoo reached an arm around you in a brief embrace before urging you forwards. 

"Good luck!" 

Seunghoon patted your back gently, taking the case from Mino to pass to you before opening the door. 

You entered slowly, eyes immediately drawn to the capped-man sat against the back wall. He nodded in greeting as you gave a shakey bow.

"Good morning"

"Good morning, sajang-nim"

"Are you nervous?"

Your stomach tightened, your back arching awkwardly as you gave a few stutters in reply. His face darkened as he tilted it towards the ground, scanning the paperwork in front of him.

"Hm. Perhaps you should be, your last assessment was by no means successful-"

His sentence trailed off as he met your tearful eyes. The corners of his mouth twitched downwards in a sympathetic frown as he gestured for you to move away from the door. You obliged, quickly hiding your uncased viola under the folded hoodie, placing it in the corner of the room before returning to the centre.

"Your first performance, what is it?"

"I'm covering 'Too much love will kill you' by Queen"

"A cover? Right-"

He gave a shake of his head as he sighed, looking back to the paper in a vain attempt to hide his disappointment. It shot right through your heart, your confidence sinking to a new level.

"You can start when you're ready"

He grumbled. His eyes were half-lidded, unimpressed, his head leaning on one hand, obviously already tired of you. You stood in thought for a few seconds, building your nerve back up. Actually, I'm glad he's in a bad mood, you thought, that way it'll be even better when I surprise him. You gave a smirk as you slammed a disk into the stereo, setting it to play and stepping back.

It was apparent, even from the very beginning, that you weren't meeting his expectations. You were exceeding them. From underneath the shadow of his cap you caught the glint of his smile, his head gently bobbing to the rhythm. That same warmth, passion began to spread through your chest as you sung. Maximum volume. Maximum power. Maximum emotion. Your arms began to move instinctively as you finished the second chorus, moving from your ribs to swing about you.

"-too much love will kill you, every time~"

The instrumental began and you took your chance to scurry away, snatching up your viola and viciously grinding your bow against it. You gave a quick glance towards the man, his eyebrows raised in shock. But he was smiling, grinning in fact.

As you came to the final chorus, both instrumentals ceased, leaving only your voice. It was at this point that you gave one final push, to make your lungs catch on fire, to tie a knot in your stomach, to weaken your knees. You gave it everything until the very last line, stepping backwards slowly, whispering.

"-in the end~"

You turned, shutting off the stereo, using it as an excuse to hide your grin, allowing yourself a side-glance through the glass door to the group of ecstatic young men. The room continued in silence as you turned back to face the CEO.

"I don't usually attend the assements personally"

"Yes sajang-nim, I know"

Your heart sunk a little; Only when trainees aren't pulling their weight. He paused, glancing up, face blanked, causing you to lean forward in curiousity. He eventually let out a short breath.

"You can go now, I don't need to see any more"

"What?! Really?" 

You were in shock as he waved you off, finally showing a wide smile.

"You worked hard, well done"

"Thank you!"

You bowed low, opening the door.

"-although next time maybe you should take more time preparing it"

Ah, of course. You gave a contented huff as you emerged into the hallway, immediately being pounced upon by your eager friends.

"That was so amazing!"

"We knew you had it in you!"

They all squashed in around you, fidgeting as you formed a group hug. You felt a pair of arm snaking around you as you leant back into him, grin splitting your face. Seung Yoon hugged you tighter, eyes forming beautiful crescents. After a few minutes like this you began to seperate, still buzzing slightly.

"Come on, let's go celebrate!"

"Its on me!"

Minos declaration was greeted with even more excited chatter. You weren't listening though. The rest of the world blanked out as your gaze met his. His body was close, head hovering inches above your own. He moved in, it seemed to take eternity before his curved lips finally reached yours. So warm, tender, so true. They were so soft as they moved against your own. Breathless. 

Regretfully, you pulled away after a few seconds, with an even brighter smile and pinkened cheeks. The others hadn't noticed. They were still chittering about preferred bars to visit. Seung Yoon wrapped one arm around you, humming lightly as he smirked, aand also rose-coloured, turning to lead the throng away. But something urged you to glance back. Through the glass panel you saw the CEO. Staring. His expression the polar opposite of the previous. He glared back sternly before turning away.

"You okay?"

Seung Yoon whispered in your ear upon noticing your sudden change in posture, turning to him with wide eyes. He glanced back too, face dropping, mirroring your own concerned expression.

***

It wasn't until your third drink that you had forgotten about Yang Hyun Suk and the consequences that were sure to follow in the morning. But you didn't care, not right now anyway. You found yourself in a large bar in the middle of Seoul, perched rather precariously on Minos' knee, the only thing stopping you from tumbling onto the floor was a single hand gripping onto your waist. Jinwoo swayed violently, his eyes half-lidded as he followed the movements of the bottle set to spinning by a red-faced and hysterical Seunghoon. At least you weren't the worst. 

Taehyun seemed to be taking it all in his stride, slouching on the leather with legs stretched out, taking sips from his bottle as he eyed the group. Seung Yoon sat beside him, elbows on his knees so that he could lean across at you, his smirk slightly lopsided and cheeks heavily flushed. 

"'nother drink?"

Seunghoon stumbled to his feet, taking a few seconds to steady himself, grinning widely in achievement. 

"Yes! Yeah, yeah, yeah"

Jinwoo took a few wobbly steps, the maknae quickly jumping up to support him.

"Hyung, I really don't think you need any more-"

The small man pressed a figure to his lips before turning to your 'seat'.

"Mino, money, money-Mino-money-mon."

You were carelessly pushed off as he got up, turning back when he had realised.

"Ooh, girl, oops sorry "

He offered his hand as he chuckled, pulling you back onto the chair before escorting the other three back to the bar. Seung Yoon leant in to pat the back of your hand. 

"You're cute"

The slur was paired with a cheesy wink as he dragged his hand to brush your shoulder. You nodded roughly.

"Yeah, and you're-"

"I'm?"

"-you're stupid, but I like your face "

He snorted loudly, pulling backwards.

"Okay, thank you so much-"

His eyes narrowed as he tugged his cheeks up in a grin.

"-I like your stupid face too"

You felt the side of your head being tapped several times before he leant forwards again, quickly pecking your cheek. Both of you begun to laugh loudly, earning raised eyebrows as the boys returned.

"What's so funny?"

"Uh- she said Minos was fat!~"

Seung Yoon shouted quickly, covering the lower part of his face as he pointed over at you. Mino gasped dramatically as he tried to glance at the reflection of his backside in the nearest window. Seunghoon bent forward to pinch a cheek through his jeans, gigging until Taehyun pulled him away. The other rapper gave a quick wink to his peer before tumbling onto your lap, wiggling his posterior furiously. 

"Hush up girl, I've got more hips than you'll ever have"

He shimmied a few more times before stilling.

"Oh, so that's why Zico-oppa is friends with you~"

The group began to snicker, Mino half-turning to slap your forearm repeatedly. The drunken-banter continued long into the early hours of the morning, only to be replaced by heavy snores as each of you fell asleep.