“It wasn’t as bad as you think it was,” Taekwoon said, watching as Hakyeon sat silently at his desk.

“It was,” Hakyeon muttered, “it really was.”

“No one died,” Taekwoon huffed, “no one was seriously injured. We got all the civilians out. All that happened was that we lost the battle.”

“We should have won,” Hakyeon snapped, “we lost because my orders were bad. Those orders cost us a win. It could have cost us a lot more.”

“But it didn’t!” Taekwoon snapped right on back, more than done with his friend’s self-loathing attitude, “and now you have a better idea of what to do next time, what not to do.”

“I should have already known that!” Hakyeon argued, “I was given this position because Junsu thought I could handle it. Yoochun and Jaejoong felt the same way. Today…..today I proved that I couldn’t, that they were wrong.”

“Hakyeon,” Taekwoon sighed, realizing that there was no way he could convince Hakyeon that this train of thought was toxic and needed to stop.

“I’m going to resign,” Hakyeon sighed, “I’m sure they can easily find someone who can replace me.”

“Just…..just wait, alright?” Taekwoon said, slightly desperate, “wait until we’ve completed a couple o more missions.”

“Why?” Hakyeon scoffed, “so I can get someone killed?”

“No,” Taekwoon told him, “because you know that they’ll never let you go after just one mission. If you want them to replace you, you need more proof that you shouldn’t be leader of this team.”

“Fine,” Hakyeon gave in after a moment, realizing that his friend was right. Junsu defiantly wasn’t the kind of person who just let people destroy his plans. From codenames to who he’d brought into Overwatch, mess with his careful planning and you’d be crying.

Or that was what Yoochun and Jaejoong had told him. They might have been messing with him. Or maybe they were playing a prank of some kind on Junsu. Either way, Hakyeon decided it was best not to mess up Junsu’s plans until he had more evidence that he was a horrible leader.

--

“,” Sanghyuk winced slightly as Hongbin swabbed the cut on his cheek with antiseptic, “that stings.”

“Means it’s working,” Hongbin shrugged, “just gotta deal with it.”

“I know,” Sanghyuk sighed, mind going over the mission from a few hours earlier, “we were kind of a mess out there, weren’t we?”

“We were,” Hongbin nodded with a sigh, “but then…..we’re all kind of new to this whole…..working as a team in a combat situation thing. Many of us have never seen actually combat that close before.”

“Like you,” Sanghyuk nodded slightly, “and a bunch of others are used to working solo. Mark and Jackson are used to being a pair, to only having each other. They have no idea what to do with a whole team. I’m used to being in a plane, up and away from the action on the ground.”

“And Hakyeon doesn’t know how to lead a team like us either,” Hongbin frowned, “I mean, he knows enough to keep us all alive, but……”

“He’s still a soldier,” Sanghyuk nodded in understanding, “and not yet a leader.”

“Not yet,” Hongbin smiled slightly, nodding in agreement, “I’m sure he’ll get better in time.”

“I think I said something similar when I introduced myself to him,” Sanghyuk smiled slightly before it turned to a frown, “I’m sure Hakyeon is beating himself up about it.”

“Yeah,” Hongbin sighed.

“We’ll just have to work harder next time,” Sanghyuk smiled after a moment, “show him that his orders are good, that he’s a good leader.”

“How?” Hongbin asked.

“More training,” Sanghyuk replied, “and better equipment.”

“Might as well,” Hongbin shrugged after a moment of thought, “I’m done patching you up, wanna head to the weight room and get started on that training?”

“Sure,” Sanghyuk nodded, “we can pass by Wonsik’s lab and ask him if he can do some work on our equipment.”

A/N: I think it’s safe to say that Sanghyuk and Hongbin’s plans worked out ‘cuz Hakyeon stayed leader. Serious talk, I wonder if N ever feels like he’s the worst person to lead VIXX. I mean, I’m sure he’s probably thought it ‘cuz self-doubt sure seems like a normal thing that everyone does, but…..it just hurts my heart to think that N questions his worthiness to be VIXX’s leader ‘cuz he’s the best person for the job (I think so anyway). It hurts my heart to think of any of the guys looking at themselves in the mirror and questioning if they really deserve to be in VIXX.